Now Batting, Albert Pujols

Besides being one the most prolific all around hitters in his first five years in history, St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols may be marveled at due to his level of consistency. His most steady year-to-year counting statistic is his at-bats in his first five years as a major leaguer. His at-bat figures since his 2001 rookie season are as follows: 590, 590, 591, 592 and 597 (on pace for in 2005).

Is there any other player in the history of the game with that type of at-bat consistency? Pete Rose comes immediately to mind. Sure enough Rose was nearly as consistent from 1974 through 1978 in his age 33 through 37 seasons. His at-bat totals fluctuated a touch more than Pujols' but are still impressive in their consistency: 652, 662, 665, 655 and 655.

Perhaps an effective way for a player to be so consistent in his year-to-year at-bat figures is to play the same number of games per year in the same position in the batting order and for a team whose offensive output has been consistent during the time the particular player experienced their at-bat consistency. Rose and Pujols would seem to fit this criteria.

How about the next nine all-time at-bat leaders after Rose? Since playing in most of your team's games each year may be a determining factor in at-bat consistency let's have a look at these players that racked up the most at-bats in the game's history.

Hank Aaron is second all-time in at-bats with 12,364. His most consistent five year stretch came at the beginning of his career when he ran up 602, 609, 615, 601 and 629 at-bat figures from 1955-1959. Not as good as Rose or Pujols but still very consistent.

The closest the number three all-time at-bat leader comes is near the end of his career. Carl Yastrzemski's 1975-1979 seasons produced 543, 546, 558, 523 and 518 at-bats respectively. Just eyeballing the numbers I'd rank from the most consistent to least consistent five year at-bat stretch in the following order:

1. Pujols
2. Rose
3. Aaron
4. Yastrzemski

Cal Ripken's at-bat trend during his most consistent five year period shows a downward trend from his 1983 sophomore season to the 1987 season. The figures move from 663 to 641 to 642 to 627 to 624.

Ty Cobb was number five all-time in career at-bats but he offers no five year stretch of consistent at-bat production. Suspensions, wartime service and injuries were the main culprits for the lack of his at-bat consistency.

Eddie Murray had a nice start to his career with 611, 610, 606 and 621 at-bat totals but that blasted 1981 strike ruined things. His closest run of years is from 1987 to 1991 when he racked up 618, 603, 594, 558 and 576 at-bats.

Here's how I'd rank the seven we've reviewed so far:

1. Pujols
2. Rose
3. Aaron
4. Ripken
5. Yastrzemski
6. Murray
7. Cobb

Next is Robin Yount and his 11,008 lifetime at-bats. Yount's at-bat consistency is very spotty like Cobb's...but not quite as bad.

Dave Winfield offered three solid three year stretches of fairly consistent at-bat totals but nothing close to five years. He rates ahead of Yount and Cobb.

Stan Musial saw his most consistent run of year-to-year at-bats occur in the middle of his career from his age 30 to 34 seasons. He racked up 578, 578, 593, 591 and 562 at-bats during that time period. I'll squeeze in Musial between Aaron and Ripken for number four on our list.

Rickey Henderson rounds out our list as number ten all-time in career at-bats. Injuries and fluctuating walk totals from year-to-year push Henderson to the very bottom of our at-bat consistency list.

Here's the final list ranked in order of most consistent to least consistent.

1. Pujols
2. Rose
3. Aaron
4. Musial
5. Ripken
6. Yaz
7. Murray
8. Winfield
9. Yount
10. Cobb
11. Henderson

Pujols' run of at-bat consistency doesn't tell us that he's a great hitter but this is one way he's already topped these ten all-time greats in his first five years in the game.