Happy Belated Birthday to Paul Molitor, Hall of Fame Infielder. During his twenty-one-year career primarily for the Milwaukee Brewers but also with the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins, Molitor was a hitter. While in terms of Fielding, Molitor was never able to find consistency, he got into the Hall of Fame like most players did with their bat.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1978-1998):

.306 BA 3,319 HITS 234 HR 1,307 RBI 1,782 RUNS .369 OBP

  • 7x All-Star
  • 4x Silver Slugger
  • 1993 World Series Champion
  • 1993 World Series MVP

Although Molitor had power later in his career, he was a guy with speed; he had 504 Stolen Bases. He is one of five players to bat .300 lifetime, along with 3,000 Hits and 500 Stolen Bases; the other four are Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, and Ichiro Suzuki. Molitor led his league in both Hits and Runs three times and batted over .300 twelve times. Molitor did all this despite missing over 500 games throughout his career due to injuries. After leaving the Brewers for the Blue Jays in 1993, at 36, he played six more years and had three more highly productive seasons. in his mid-to-late 30s. 

1993

Age 36: .332 BA 211 HITS 22 HR 111 RBI .402 OBP 121 RUNS (160 Games)

1994

Age 37: .341 BA 155 HITS 14 HR 75 RBI .410 OBP 86 RUNS (115 Games)

1996

Age 39: .341 BA 225 HITS  9 HR 113 RBI .390 OBP 99 RUNS (161 Games)

In 1993, he finished runner-up in the AL MVP voting as he and the Blue Jays would win the World Series, and he was named the World Series MVP. In 1994, the strike year, he batted .341 at 37 in only 115 games. Then 1996, at 39, he led the league with 225 Hits. Age didn’t matter; as long as Molitor was healthy, he could Hit. When you factor in that Molitor career-wise averaged 200 Hits over a 162-game season and that he missed about three years’ worth of baseball due to injuries and the two strikes, Molitor probably missed out on another 500 Hits, 250 Runs, 100 HR, and 200 RBIs. Also, he hit 605 career Doubles, which is a lot for a right-handed hitter; he could’ve made a run for the record, trailing the record by 187.

While he won a World Series with the Blue Jays and was born, raised, played, and managed in Minnesota with the Twins. Paul Molitor will forever be a Milwaukee Brewer as he wore a Brewers hat into Cooperstown and was inducted in 2004 on his first ballot. In 1999, after he retired, Molitor was ranked #99 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ball Players.

References:

  1. Paul Molitor via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Molitor#
  2. Paul Molitor Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molitpa01.shtml