Legion alums Pujols, Verlander honored for comeback seasons

One became just the fourth player with 700 career home runs. The other returned from Tommy John surgery to earn the third American League Cy Young Award of his career.

Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander can each add another honor to their accolades, as they were named their respective league’s Comeback Player of the Year. The two American Legion Baseball alumni won the awards, presented annually since 2005 and voted on by the 30 club beat reporters from MLB.com, on Nov. 22.

Playing his final season in the major leagues, the 42-year-old Pujols hit 24 home runs in 2022 — 18 of them in the second half to join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth in the 700-home run club.

Pujols, who played Legion Baseball for Hi-Boy Drive/Post 340 in Independence, Mo., finished his 22-season MLB career with 703 home runs and 2,218 RBIs — his RBI totals are second only to Aaron. Pujols was the 2001 National League Rookie of the Year, a two-time World Series champion, three-time MVP and 11-time All-Star, also earning six Silver Slugger Awards and two Gold Glove Awards.

Pujols is the third Legion Baseball alumnus to win the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award, joining fellow Cardinal Chris Carpenter (Post 79/Manchester, N.H.), who won the award in 2009, and Colorado’s Daniel Bard (Post 337/Pineville, N.C.), the 2020 recipient.

At 39, Verlander (Post 201/Powhatan, Va.) bounced back after making just one start in 2020 and missing the entire 2021 season after Tommy John surgery.

In 2022, he went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA to lead the American League in wins, ERA, WHIP (0.83), opponents’ OPS (.497), opponents’ batting average (.186) and hits per nine innings (5.97). That helped him win the Cy Young Award for the third time, after earning the honor with Detroit in 2011 and Houston in 2019.

Verlander is the fourth Legion Baseball alumnus to win the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. Other recipients are Jim Thome (Post 979/Bartonville, Ill.) of the Chicago White Sox in 2006; Cleveland’s Cliff Lee (Benton, Ark.) in 2008; and Boston’s Rick Porcello (Post 395/Vailsburg, N.J.) in 2016.