St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, who in nine seasons has never not surpassed a .300 average, 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, is Sporting News‘ Major League Baseball player of the decade.

The honor is part of a 14-page tribute to the athletes, coaches and teams of the 2000s in the new issue of the magazine, which arrives this week at all Barnes & Noble, Borders and Hudson Retail outlets. SN honored one athlete in each sport and enlisted the help of teammates, coaches and legends to make a case for both the winner and runner-up.

Said Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock of Pujols: “There’s an adage in baseball that the sound of the bat dictates how well a guy is going to play. His first time in spring training, when Albert hit a ball, everyone stopped. All eyes turned to him. That sound just jerked you around. That in itself gave us a great indication of what was going to happen. The sound is hard to explain. It’s just different—like I hear people talk about when Tiger Woods hits a golf ball and it’s unlike anything they’ve heard. Babe Ruth, I’m told, had that sound. You don’t hear that sound in every decade.”

Pujols was SN’s player of the year twice this decade, winning in 2003 and ’08.

His pick for his favorite moment of the decade? “Nothing was more special than winning the World Series (in 2006),” he told SN. “Seeing Adam Wainwright strike out Brandon Inge to make the last out was one of those moments I will never forget. I have had some big games, but nothing was more important than that game. We played as a team that whole series and proved all the people wrong who did not think we had the team to win.”
SN chose Pujols over Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. “His last 10 years have been as good as anyone’s,” teammate Derek Jeter said.

Other SN MLB honors:
— Manager of the decade: Joe Torre, Dodgers/Yankees

— Team of the decade: Red Sox

— Executive of the decade: Theo Epstein, Red Sox

— Performance of the decade: White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle’s perfect game against the Rays on July 23, 2009. Buehrle also threw a no-hitter on April 18, 2007, making him the only pitcher with two no-hitters this decade.

— Game of the decade: Game 7, 2001 World Series, Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 2.

— All-decade team:
C Joe Mauer
1B Albert Pujols
2B Jeff Kent
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
OF Barry Bonds
OF Ichiro Suzuki
OF Manny Ramirez
DH David Ortiz
SP Randy Johnson
RP Mariano Rivera