ANAHEIM -- Jose Pujols reached yet another milestone on Friday.
After singling for his 1,000th career hit with the Angels in the sixth inning of Friday's 4-3 victory over the A's, Pujols became the ninth player to collect 1,000 hits in each league. The first 2,073 hits of his career came in the National League with the Cardinals.
Pujols joins Dave Winfield, Frank Robinson, Vladimir Guerrero, Fred McGriff, Carlos Lee, Orlando Cabrera, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran as the only players to accomplish the feat.
"Albert, anytime he does anything -- a base hit, a double, a home run -- once again, you're talking about some of the all-time greats he's mentioned with," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's a great feat. We're happy for him. He's swinging the bat well, and we need him. As far as putting everything into perspective that he's done up until this point, we're seeing a living legend. We're seeing a guy do things that not many people in this game have ever done. It's fun to be part of it."
Pujols is 12th on the Angels' all-time hit list, 34 shy of newly enshrined Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero and is 45 hits shy of tying Chone Figgins for 10th in franchise history. Pujols also ranks fifth on the Angels' all-time home run list (187) and fourth in RBIs (645) as he completes his seventh season with the Halos.