All you need to know about Pujols' 3,000 hits

One of the greatest hitters of his -- and any -- generation, Albert Pujols reached one of the most storied milestones in baseball on Friday: 3,000 hits.
The Angels' first baseman notched the 3,000th hit of his Major League career in the fifth inning of the Halos' 5-0 win in Seattle, lining a single to right field off Mariners right-hander Mike Leake. He added a two-run, ninth-inning single to left for hit No. 3,001. 
Now that Pujols has joined the 3,000-hit club, the next players up are Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Canó, the active players closest to 3,000. Cabrera has 2,666 career hits, and Cano has 2,409 (including his one hit on Friday).
But this was Albert's night. MLB.com takes a look at some of the most impressive facts and figures from Pujols' march to 3,000 with the Angels and Cardinals, which began more than 17 years and 2,606 games ago on Opening Day 2001, with a 1-for-3 Major League debut for St. Louis.
:: Albert Pujols 3,000 hit coverage ::
• Pujols is the 32nd member of the 3,000-hit club, a group that includes 25 Hall of Famers and several other likely future Hall of Famers -- now including Pujols himself. Pujols is the first to join since Dominican countryman Adrián Beltré with the Rangers last July 30.
• Pujols is also the member of another exclusive club: The 600-home run club. His membership in both makes him one of just four players in Major League history with both 3,000 hits and 600 homers. The others: Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.
• To put Pujols in even more exclusive company: He and Aaron are the only players in MLB history with at least 3,000 hits, 600 home runs and 600 doubles. (Pujols has 626 career two-baggers.)
• Additionally, Pujols is one of only three players all time with both 3,000 hits and three Most Valuable Player Awards. A-Rod and Stan Musial are the other two in that group. Pujols' three MVPs all came in the National League with the Cardinals (2005, '08 and '09).
• Born in Santo Domingo, Pujols is the second Dominican-born Major Leaguer to reach 3,000 hits -- and, with Beltre being the previous player, the second consecutive player to hail from the Dominican Republic. He's also the third straight foreign-born player to get his 3,000th hit. Ichiro Suzuki collected his 3,000th hit with the Marlins on Aug. 7, 2016.

• Pujols is the sixth 3,000-hit club member born outside the continental U.S., joining Beltre (Dominican Republic), Ichiro (Japan), Rafael Palmeiro (Cuba), Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico) and Rod Carew (Panama).
• Carew, like Pujols, got his 3,000th hit with the Angels, on Aug. 4, 1985, with a single against the Twins. Pujols and Carew are the only two players to get their 3,000th hit with the Angels. Other 3,000-hit club members who played for the Angels at any point in their careers include Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield.

• Only one other 3,000-hit club member reached the milestone at Seattle's Safeco Field - Palmeiro, on July 15, 2005.
• Of Pujols' 3,001 career hits, 1,739 are singles, 626 doubles, 16 triples and 620 home runs. His 3,000th hit was his 927th with the Halos, in his 901st game for the team, which he joined in 2012. Including his ninth-inning single, the breakdown of those 928 hits: 581 singles, 171 doubles, one triple and 175 home runs. The Machine recorded his first 2,073 hits with the Cardinals, for whom he played his first 11 seasons from '01-11. His first career hit was a ground-ball single through the left side in the seventh inning of his Major League debut at Coors Field.

• At the time of his 3,000th hit, Pujols had a career slugging percentage of .560. That was the highest of any 3,000-hit club member, a single point ahead of Musial's lifetime mark of .559. Mays (.557), Aaron (.555) and A-Rod (.550) -- Pujols' fellow 600-home run club members -- round out the top five.
• Pujols has 1,262 extra-base hits through his first 3,001 hits. That means 42.1 percent of his career hits have been for extra bases, which currently stands as the highest percentage among the 3,000-hit club members. Pujols' 1,262 total extra-base hits rank fifth in the 3,000-hit club, after Aaron (1,477), Musial (1,377), Mays (1,323) and Rodriguez (1,275). But Pujols is the only one who had 1,250-plus extra-base hits at the time of his 3,000th hit.

• This is Pujols' 18th season in the Major Leagues. He's just the 12th player to reach the 3,000-hit mark within his first 18 seasons. At 38 years, 108 days old, Pujols is also the 10th-youngest player to reach 3,000 hits.
• Pujols has already had 14 seasons with at least 150 hits. That makes him one of just 15 players all time with at least that many prior to their age-39 season. But Pujols and Hammerin' Hank are the only two players with both 14 seasons of 150 hits and 20 home runs.
• Of Pujols' 3,001 career hits, 20 have been walk-offs. That ties him for the third-most walk-off hits in MLB history, behind Frank Robinson (26) and Dusty Baker (21). Additionally, 448 of his hits have been go-ahead hits for his team.