Albert Pujols Becomes US Citizen
By Michael Williams (2/28/2007)
Albert Pujol of St Louis Cardinals has become an American citizen. He was sworn in a ceremony at the Eagleton Courthouse. Deidre, Pujol’s wife, invited relatives and friends to watch the ceremony where U S District Judge E Richard Webber swore in Pujols.
It is believed that Pujols scored a perfect 100 in his US citizen test. Chester Moyer, the officer in-charge of the US Citizen and Immigration Service office in St Louis, said that Deidre Pujols tutored her husband and he spent approximately a year preparing for the citizenship test.
Moyer further added that Pujol answered additional questions in the test and even gave more answers than were asked. Moyer said that Pujols was absolutely excited to become a US citizen.
The ceremony was open to public. However, no publicity was done about Pujols being part of the ceremony.
Pujols drew up in the Dominican Republic and moved to Kansas City when he was 16 years old with his father. He graduated from Fort Osage High School in 1998. Pujols was selected by the Cardinals in 1999 in the 13th round of the amateur draft after he played baseball at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City.
Pujols has been playing in MLB for six seasons and he has hit 250 homeruns with 758 RBIs. He has a batting average of .332. He won the 2005 NL MVP and has finished a runner-up three times. In 2006, he won his first NL Gold Glove.
After Pujols finished the swearing ceremony, he flew to Florida to prepare for the opening of spring training. |