Manny Machado has NSFW message for teams not honoring Albert Pujols

After nearly a century and a half of Major League Baseball, we’ve learned time and again that some things are bigger than the game.

Lou Gehrig taught fans that in 1939 when he told the world that despite being diagnosed with a disease that still has no cure, he considered himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

We saw it again after September 11 and the Boston Marathon Bombing, when fans rose above team rivalries to support each other as human beings.

In lighter, less dire instances, we’ve seen it when generational talents retire and are given their flowers in their final games.

That’s what should be happening this year with Albert Pujols, and Manny Machado wants to know why it isn’t.

This week, the San Diego Padres star called out teams for not giving him a farewell tour:

Padres star Manny Machado slams MLB teams for not giving Albert Pujols a farewell tour and tributes

Pujols certainly deserves a sendoff of epic proportions. He started his 22-year career as Rookie of the Year and went on to be a 10-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger, three-time MVP and Major-League Player of the Year, two-time Gold Glover, and batting champion. He led the St. Louis Cardinals to two World Series championships and won NLCS MVP as a postseason star. And those are just his accolades. To list all the times he led MLB or his division in offensive metrics would take all day.

All this to say, when his Cooperstown eligibility rolls around, Pujols is sure to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Not every player deserves a farewell tour, or the gesture will lose meaning. They should be reserved for the greatest to play the game.

For example, Derek Jeter went on a farewell tour in 2014.

When David Ortiz announced that 2016 would be his final season, each team the Boston Red Sox visited gave him some kind of gift, usually in a pre-game ceremony. Machado’s team at the time, the Baltimore Orioles, gave him $10,000 for the World Pediatric Project and the bullpen phone he famously destroyed with a baseball bat.

For decades, teams and fans have put aside rivalry to support one another in the darkest times, to celebrate greatness, and/or say goodbye to those who made this game what it’s supposed to be. Pujols is one of those greats.

There’s still time for teams to correct this and give Pujols the sendoff he deserves. Hopefully, they will.