Albert Pujols is retiring at the end of the season but it instead of receiving any gifts he appeared to be the one handing them out on Tuesday.
The St. Louis Cardinals slugger’s gold chain necklace broke during the middle of an at-bat in the third inning, forcing Pujols to remove it before he could continue with his at-bat.
Instead of calling on a bat boy to bring it back into the dugout, Pujols decided to give it to the home plate umpire Laz Diaz in a hilarious exchange.
Cardinals announcer Dan McLaughlin joked, “that is a smart move by Albert, because he will never have another strike called against him as long as Laz is behind the plate.”
The best part? Pujols then ripped a single to right field, knocking in a run to tie the game up at 3 apiece.
Pujols is wrapping up a Hall of Fame career and received a nice standing ovation from the Blue Jays fans in Canada on Tuesday as well.
We’re not sure if Pujols will let Diaz keep the necklace, but our guess is he’ll get it back.
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