In another decade or so, when Stan Musial would be 100 and Albert Pujols 40, the comparisons really could have begun.

If Pujols' next 10 years would have been anything like his first 11, the Cardinals' first baseman legitimately could have challenged, at least statistically, the revered Musial as the "Greatest Cardinal of Them All."

Now, with Pujols fleeing to the Los Angeles Angels, Musial, as he has for the past 50 or 60 years, will hold that title in undisputed fashion — for our lifetimes and those of many others.

Pujols would have had to step it up a bit to catch Musial for career batting average as a Cardinal. He finished three points behind at .328, and 1,557 hits behind at 3,630 to 2,073.

Home runs would have been no contest. Musial wound up his 22-season career with 475 homers as a Cardinal. Pujols already has 445 on his way probably to 700 or more.

Runs batted in, the third part of a hitter's stat sheet, also would have fallen to Pujols. Musial ended with 1,949. Pujols already has 1,329 and would have had to average only 70 or so RBIs a year to pass Musial there.

The runs scored category would have played out about the same way as Pujols trailed Musial by less than 700, 1,949 to 1,295.

Musial, a speedster in his youth, won the triples "crown," at 77-15. Nobody gets a triple anymore these days and Pujols has had one or none in each of the last six seasons.

Two-base hits probably would have gone to Pujols, who lags behind Musial by 270 at 725-455.

Pujols already had captured the stolen-base race at 84-78. Musial won three National League Most Valuable Player awards as a Cardinal. Pujols also has three.

But Musial won seven league batting titles to Pujols' one. Musial never won a home-run title while Pujols has two. Musial led in RBIs twice to once for Pujols.

The eras in which they played are vastly different. There are 30 big-league teams now, compared to 16 when Musial played, meaning there are 150 or more pitchers employed as big leaguers now and surely some of them aren't very good.

But in Musial's day, there were, at first, no non-Caucasian players. Even when he finished, there were very few Latin American players and almost none from Asia.

Musial, for most of his career, didn't have to travel west past St. Louis. And he didn't have to play nearly as many night games as Pujols.

But Musial had to wear wool uniforms, for the most part, as compared to the more comfortable garb of today. They played lots of doubleheaders 50 or 60 years ago. If they do now, they're contested as split doubleheaders.

Musial didn't have to put up with ESPN or blogging or tweeters. Pujols didn't have to put up with train travel and overnight Pullman cars.

The lefthanded-hitting Musial didn't have to face lefthanded fireballer Randy Johnson. The righthanded-batting Pujols didn't have to face righthanded fireballer Don Drysdale.

Musial will finish with one substantial edge in mid-season honors. Aided by four seasons when there were two All-Star games, Musial was on 24 NL All-Star squads as a Cardinal. Pujols was on nine.

For the moment at least, Musial also finishes with a substantial edge in popularity. He had a chance to leave the Cardinals for Jorge Pascual's newly formed Mexican League for $125,000, plus a $50,000 signing bonus, in 1946. Musial, earning $13,500 with the Cardinals at the time, didn't go.