JUPITER, Fla. – After helping the St. Louis Cardinals win their first World Series in 24 years, Albert Pujols put together an equally impressive off-season.

Last week, Pujols became a U.S. citizen when he aced a test that required months of preparation. He skipped another potential highlight, a trip to the White House, to embark on a humanitarian mission to his native Dominican Republic.

“It was pretty busy,” Pujols said Wednesday. “Obviously, those are dreams come true.”

During that whirlwind, the NL MVP runner-up was getting ready for spring training. He arrived at Roger Dean Stadium with his youngest son, A.J., in tow five days ahead of the report date for the full squad.

Pujols actually has been in town since Friday, and had been working out at a high school with his personal trainer. He was among about 20 Cardinals hitting the field on an informal basis on Wednesday in an early start to their title defense.

No NL team has repeated as the pennant winner since Atlanta in 1996 and there have been seven different World Series winners this decade. The Cardinals won only 83 games, fewest ever by a World Series winner, and nearly collapsed in the closing weeks.

“We probably didn’t have the best year with our record, but who cares?” Pujols said. “But that’s over, all of that’s in the past. Now I’m here in camp and celebration is over.”

The celebration was an extended one, though, capped a week ago by a citizenship swearing-in ceremony at the Eagleton Courthouse in St. Louis. About two dozen relatives and friends were in attendance.

“Obviously, I probably will never work for the government, but the U.S. opened the door for my family,” Pujols said. “It was awesome. It was a lot of hard work, but I came through.”

Pujols, 27, had a practical reason for taking the test. His resident alien card was about to expire so he had no choice but to take the test.

“Every question was tough,” Pujols said. “It was crazy.”

He kidded reporters: “Probably things you guys wouldn’t be able to answer.”