JUPITER, Fla. • It has been a story that manager Tony La Russa likes to tell for several years and one that local beat writers ran into at least a few times while covering the Cardinals clubhouse. Albert Pujols, the three-time MVP, did not want to be called "El Hombre" as a nickname because, as he said, there is only one "The Man" in St. Louis.

Pujols expressed his discomfort with the nickname a few times publicly, and at least twice privately talked with reporters about not using the name.

It was, he insisted, too close to Stan Musial's well-known moniker.

So it was with some surprise in the past month that the Los Angeles Angels — clearly tone deaf to Pujols' past public comments — started advertising Pujols and the Angels on billboards around the Anaheim area with the back of his jersey and a simple over-sized phrase: "El Hombre." (You can see a pic of one billboard here; and there is another one over here.)

This afternoon, Pujols expressed disappointment about those billboards, according to reports from the Angels' camp.

"I prefer not to use that," Pujols said, according to this report on ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I still have the same respect for (Musial) as I had, not just for what he's done in baseball but for what he did for his country. That's something you have to appreciate."

"El Hombre" is Spanish for "The Man," and "The Man" is a nickname given Musial during his playing career by the fans in Brooklyn. It has stuck, and is now even part of the name for Musial's business, Stan The Man, Inc.

It appears that the Angels constructed and implemented the campaign without discussing it with Pujols. The three-time MVP had warmed somewhat (or, at least accepted its inevitability) to the nickname at one point later in his career with the Cardinals, though as recently as early last season he reminded a reporter about his request not to go by "El Hombre."

According to the ESPNLosAngeles.com report, the Angels consider "El Hombre" "one prong" of a larger campaign.

Twenty of the 70 billboards in the campaign feature "El Hombre."

I understand that there is some Pujols fatigue out there -- heck, my email box was loaded with it after his press conference Monday -- but I thought it was worth bringing these comments to the StlToday.com readers because there was so much coverage of Pujols' problem with the nickname. La Russa made it a large part of his time with the media at the winter meetings in 2009 and used Pujols' wish as an example of how fond the first baseman was of Cardinals' history and the icons came before him.

It's because of that that I pass along the story and the comments.

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