VIDEO: Evan Longoria Wanted to Keep the Ball for First-Ever Hit Allowed by Albert Pujols

The early returns on Albert Pujols' farewell tour with the St. Louis Cardinals is offering exactly what fans expected: pure baseball joy. The fun continued on Sunday night when Pujols took on a new challenge, the pitcher's mound.

Pujols pitched the final inning of St. Louis' blowout 15-6 win over the San Francisco Giants, marking the first outing in his MLB career.

Albert Pujols Pitching

The gravity of the moment wasn't lost on anyone involved.

Pujols obviously had fun with the moment, but maybe not more fun than Evan Longoria. After recording the first hit allowed by Pujols in his brief pitching career, Longoria motioned over to the three-time MVP to let him keep the ball. Pujols obliged, throwing the ball to the Giants' dugout.

Check out the video below.

It's not usual for a hit-allowed ball to find its way to the memorabilia case, but that's exactly what made this moment so special for everyone involved. Longoria, a 15-year veteran himself, has had plenty of special moments in his baseball career. But he'll never forget recording this hit against Pujols on Sunday night.

Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.