Hank Aaron never hit 50 homers in a season in his career, and he had only one season in which he hit more than 45. But he was baseball's embodiment of consistency for two decades, almost always hitting between 29 and 44 long balls, taking the same trot around the bases with his elbows cocked high. By the time he hit his last homer, for the Brewers off the Angels' Dick Drago on July 20, 1976, he had more homers than anyone until Barry Bonds's late-career explosion. Hank Aaron will always be remembered by the number 755.
So it would be fitting if a player known as "The Machine" would eventually assume the record long held by Aaron, and Albert Pujols could sneak up on Bonds' record of 762 homers the way Aaron once surpassed Babe Ruth's record, through unforgiving relentlessness.
On Saturday night, Pujols clubbed the 587th and 588th homers of his career in the Angels' blowout of Seattle, moving past Frank Robinson and taking sole possession of ninth place on the all-time home run list.