Why Pujols should already have 700 homers

"The king has been robbed!"

MLB Network's Greg Amsinger described it well. As future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols enters the final stretch of his legendary MLB career, he is six home runs shy of becoming the fourth player to hit 700 or more homers, joining Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. And if you go back through the film archives, you'll find that Pujols should already have reached that milestone.

The king has been robbed -- at least six times, in fact.

Here's a look at six instances in which a would-be Pujols home run was audaciously stolen, from his rookie season in 2001 all the way through last year:

'You don't want to hit it to this guy'

May 4, 2001 -- Cardinals at Braves

Outfielder: Andruw Jones

Jones was a master when it came to home run robberies, and one of his victims was none other than a rookie Pujols, playing in only his second month in the big leagues. With future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine on the mound in Atlanta, Pujols crushed a ball to dead center field. The only problem was, that's Jones' domain, and he showed us why.

Heisey's heist

July 15, 2011 -- Cardinals at Reds

Outfielder: Chris Heisey

Heisey made this one look way too easy in center field -- he was even fundamentally sound in this robbery, using two hands to take a homer away from Pujols in Cincinnati.

Young and restless

July 21, 2013 -- Angels vs. A's

Outfielder: Chris Young

Not only did Young deprive Pujols of a homer to center, he deprived Pujols of a homer against Bartolo Colon. That's just adding insult to injury.

Jumping Jacoby

Aug. 21, 2016 -- Angels vs. Yankees

Outfielder: Jacoby Ellsbury

Ellsbury shows off his leaping ability by getting his glove way over the wall to steal this one from Pujols.

J-Up gets way up to rob Pujols

Aug. 27, 2016 -- Angels at Tigers

Outfielder: Justin Upton

They don't call him "J-Up" for nothing. Here's another baseball hit by Pujols that was destined to go over the fence ... until it wasn't.

Walk-off denied

May 28, 2021 -- Dodgers vs. Giants

Outfielder: Mike Tauchman

This was perhaps the most "egregious" of the robberies on this list, as Tauchman not only denies Pujols of a homer, but one that would've walked off the Dodgers' archrivals, the Giants.