Albert Pujols Out Four To Six Weeks With Wrist Fracture

By Mark Memmott

Published June 20, 2011 at 1:45 PM EDT

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols grabs his left wrist after being injured on a play at first base during a game against the Kansas City Royals Sunday, June 19, 2011, in St. Louis.

This is not news they want to hear in baseball-crazy St. Louis:

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has a small fracture near his left wrist and will be "out of the lineup for four to six weeks," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

He was hurt Sunday in a collision on the basepath.

Even casual baseball fans know that Pujols is arguably the best active player. He was National League MVP in 2005, 2008 and 2009. He's been an All-Star nine times.

So far this year, Pujols is hitting about 50 points under his career average. He's batting .279.

But he has 17 home runs (tied for third in the National league) and 45 runs batted in (tied for 10th).

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

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