http://tinyurl.com/2jy8fr 02/14/2007 4:08 PM ET Notes: Busy offseason for Pujols Cards slugger made humanitarian trip, became U.S. citizen By Matthew Leach / MLB.com JUPITER, Fla. -- Albert Pujols has been fielding congratulations from teammates and coaches since he arrived at Cardinals camp last week, but it has nothing to do with his first Gold Glove or winning a World Series ring. Pujols' most recent accomplishment was of another sort entirely: he became a United States citizen last week. Pujols addressed reporters on Wednesday for the first time since he was naturalized as a citizen of his adopted home, and he said the ceremony was a special day indeed. "The U.S. opened the door for me and for my family," said Pujols, who was born in the Dominican Republic. "First of all, my residence expired, so I had to do it. And then the other thing is I want to help some of my family, my mom, to come here, and that's the only way I could do it. It was awesome. It was a lot of hard work, but I came through." It was probably Pujols' most eventful offseason since he's been in baseball. In addition to the honors and demands that come with being a world champion, as well as the citizenship ceremony, he made a humanitarian trip to the Dominican in January. With a crew of doctors in tow, the traveling party provided medical care and education for about 1,000 Dominican children. "We saw some bad things," Pujols said, "but it was a great experience. It was awesome. When you close your eyes and think about it, you want to cry about it. But at the same time, you're also excited and happy and blessed that you get to do that." The trip was one of the biggest endeavors yet by the Pujols Family Foundation, which the slugger established in order to help children in the United States as well as the Dominican. He's hoping to be able to return on a regular basis. "I want to go so bad, if I could do it every month, I'd do it, because that's the way it is," he said. "Not just there. Through my foundation, my goal is to spend everywhere, not just in the Dominican Republic, but in Latin America and hopefully here in the United States like we've been doing." Pujols, always an early arriver at Spring Training, has been in Florida since Friday. For the first few days, he worked out at a nearby high school with his friend and trainer, Chris Mihlfeld. On Wednesday, he worked out at Roger Dean Stadium, while also getting in some quality time with son A.J. --

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