St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols was honored with the “Hope Award” for his charitable work at Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on Saturday (August 28)- speech transcript/video below.

The 30 year-old MLB player, who has a foundation for people with Down Syndrome and the poor in the Dominican Republic, is described as a real-life hero by his friend/manager Tony La Russa.

Pujols delivered an emotional speech, in which he thanked God for giving him the platform as a high-profile player to be able to do something good in His name and his family for all the support, especially his wife Deidre Pujols.

Albert Pujols Restoring Honor Rally Speech Transcript + Video

Albert Pujols Restoring Honor Rally Speech Text Transcript

Thank you very much. I’m very honored and humbled to be here today. I want to thank Glenn for giving me the opportunity to be here, and share with you guys not just the baseball, like Tony said, but the things that we do – off the field – which a lot of people don’t get to see.

I want to thank God for giving me this platform as a baseball player. But I believe that it is more than a platform, more than just being a baseball player – my job as a believer is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Obviously, there are so many people that I need to thank for this award, or share this award with. One of them is here today, my wife Deidre who is standing back there, and my family.

Two people back in St. Louis – Todd Perry and Jen Cooper – they run the Pujols Family Foundation. They work so hard to make our Foundation the best, and I thank them for that.
Our job through the Foundation is to be involved with kids with Down syndrome and adults with Down syndrome, as well as going back to the Dominican Republic with the mission trips, giving back. We can’t forget where we came from.

So, as long as I live my life, I’m going to do the best that I can to represent Jesus Christ, because twelve years ago, I made the best decision of my life – and that was following Jesus Christ.

So, thank you so much, and God bless you.