I believe that practically everyone is aware of the Angels and Eric Kay’s trial by now. Kay is currently serving a 22-year jail sentence for allegedly selling a fentanyl-laced pill that caused left-hander Tyler Skaggs’ death in 2019. The startling event happened just one week after Skaggs defeated the Angels in the Cardinals’ series finale.
The fact that Albert Pujols returned to St. Louis as a visiting player for the first time during that series was more significant to the Cardinals. But as additional details about what was happening with the Angels and Kay in particular at the time become available, we fans learn more things that we might not have wanted to know.
Kay was criticized by an ex-Angels club employee on Wednesday, and regrettably, Pujols doesn’t seem to be entirely honest about the whole thing.
In his testimony, Kris Constanti claimed to have video evidence of the future Hall of Famer participating in dares including being struck by a 90-mph fastball and receiving money to purchase drugs from Pujols. Pujols even “egged him on,” according to Sam Blum of The Athletic.
I’ll share my opinion, but we shouldn’t draw any judgments about the Cardinals legend’s involvement just yet because we don’t fully understand the circumstances. This is depressing to me. In the end, this whole thing resulted in a player’s death, and the family had to cope with a difficult legal scenario in addition to grieving that loss. Skaggs was one of the players Kay reportedly gave narcotics to. He had an addiction of his own.
More significantly, though, we witness Pujols engaging in some extremely immature behavior that doesn’t seem at all like him. That is the other depressing aspect of the entire situation. It’s possible that Pujols was challenging Kay because of his drug addiction and extreme desperation.
In the end, you would expect more from a player that Cardinals supporters looked up to for decades and attended to witness milestones and pursue records. I must admit that I’m a little let down by Pujols. As I said earlier, I don’t want to draw hasty conclusions. Although Pujols is not directly to blame for Skaggs’ demise, he may have participated in several incidents that paved the way for what eventually happened.
You are understandably dissatisfied when you see something like this. It is depressing, to put it mildly, to see someone I grew up admiring do this. I watched Pujols for a number of years and thoroughly enjoyed all the great moments he had in a Cardinals uniform, such as the home run off Brad Lidge, his three home runs in the 2011 World Series, and his 700th career home run.
We’ve all known Pujols to be a kind man who contributed back to the community in addition to working hard on the field. We thought of him that way. I’m not suggesting that he is no longer that guy, though. What he accomplished as a player and his humanitarian services to society cannot be disputed. You can’t take that away from him, and it should never go unrecognized.
However, I had hoped for more from him than to challenge an addict for cash. That seems like the actions of a bully in high school, and Pujols is not at all like that. Once more, I’m not claiming that Pujols is like that at all, but when you grow up admiring a player, you always hope that he doesn’t engage in such behavior and serves as an example for everyone around him.
Because these were dominoes that fell and ultimately led to a player’s death, this kind of behavior is unworthy of a role model, and if it is accurate, it could damage Pujols’ reputation as a person. I can’t speak for others, but I can’t imagine someone like Scott Rolen, Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Wainwright, or Matt Holliday acting in this manner.
To be honest, I am a little let down by someone who used to be my favorite player. Even though it might only be a small part of what transpired, this kind of behavior is just wrong, and I would definitely hope that other gamers will do better.