Molitor, Paul L.
Baseball
b. Aug. 22, 1956, St. Paul, MN
For years, the 6-foot, 185-pound Molitor was recognized as a very good baseball player. After he was named most valuable player in the 1993 World Series, people suddenly began to think he might well be a future member of the Hall of Fame.
The feeling became even stronger when he collected his 3,000th career hit in 1995. And, three years later, when he became just the sixth player in history to have 500 stolen bases and 3,000 hits, the Hall of Fame became a distinct probability. In fact, Molitor was elected to the Hall in 2004, his second year of eligibiltiy
Molitor joined the AL's Milwaukee Brewers in 1978 and hit .273 in 125 games, playing second base, third base, and shortstop. After hitting .322 in 1979 and .304 in 1980, he spent much of the 1981 season on the disabled list, but came back to lead the league with 136 runs scored in 1982, when he batted .302. Molitor hit .316 with 2 home runs, 4 runs scored, and 5 RBI when the Brewers beat the California Angels in a five-game league championship series and he had a .355 average with 5 runs and 3 RBI in their seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In Game 1, Molitor became the first player ever to get five hits in a World Series game.
In 1983, Molitor settled in at third base for the Brewers and spent most of the next seven seasons at that position. He had his best overall year in 1987, when he hit .353 and led the league with 41 doubles and 114 runs scored.
Beginning in 1991, Molitor was used mostly as a designated hitter. The move was made mainly to protect him from injury, because Molitor was good defensively at every position he played. He hit .325 that season, leading the league with 133 runs, 216 hits, and 13 triples. After hitting .320 in 1992, Molitor went to the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent. He responded with a .332 average, 121 runs, a career high 22 home runs, 111 RBI and 22 stolen bases during the regular season.
Against the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, Molitor played third base and first base and was Toronto's designated hitter at various times. He got 12 hits in 24 at-bats, scored 10 runs, and drove in 8 runs. He singled in the bottom half of the ninth inning in the sixth and final game of the series and scored the winning run on Joe Carter's homer.
In 1995, Molitor joined the Minnesota Twins as a free agent. The folliwing year, at the age of 40, he led the league with 225 hits and had a .341 average with 113 RBI. He was the first 40-year-old to collect more than 200 hits in a season since Sam Rice in 1930. His 3,000th hit was a triple against the Kansas City Royals on September 16.
Molitor got his 500th stolen base on August 8, 1998, against the Baltimore Orioles. He had five hits in that game.