Link: Interview with Paul Molitor

[Brian the Automator]

Got this in the inbox today. Molitor gives advice to young players...

http://www.centralwisconsinsports.net/2011/07/the-cws-interview-with-paul-molitor-some-legends-only-grow/

[Commander Blop]

Molitor! What a class act. Imagine autographing all that stuff in the heat yesterday. I like the notes at the end that talk about how Molly would have broken Rose's hits record.

[RockCoCougars]

I wonder if he could still play a passable third base.

[NievesNoNO]

Nice read. I too thought the bit about him maybe surpassing Rose was interesting. Easily my favorite Brewer of all time. One of my worst memories as a young fan was him signing with the Jays and leaving the Brewers. What a classic swing, no wasted movement and just exploded into the ball.

 

 

 

[Patrick425]

Molitor has and will always be one of my favorite players. I just loved the way he played the game. Even my son, who has 13, has seen videos of him and Yount on the base paths and can not get over how aggresive they were.

However, as much as I like Molly, healthy or not, I don't see where he could have broken Rose's record. Let's look at his numbers:

He played 21 seasons and had a total of 10,835 ABs and 3,319 hits. Let's say that he managed to stay completely healthy (and there was not a work stoppage in 1981) and he managed to get 625 ABs for each his 21 seasons. That would have given him a total of 13,125 ABs. Then let's take the extra 2,290 ABs and apply his season best .353 average to these ABs. That would give him an extra 808 hits. Even with these VERY generous assumptions his hit total comes to 4,127 which is 129 hits shy of Rose's 4,256.

[RockCoCougars]

 

Molitor has and will always be one of my favorite players. I just loved the way he played the game. Even my son, who has 13, has seen videos of him and Yount on the base paths and can not get over how aggresive they were.

 

However, as much as I like Molly, healthy or not, I don't see where he could have broken Rose's record. Let's look at his numbers:

 

He played 21 seasons and had a total of 10,835 ABs and 3,319 hits. Let's say that he managed to stay completely healthy (and there was not a work stoppage in 1981) and he managed to get 625 ABs for each his 21 seasons. That would have given him a total of 13,125 ABs. Then let's take the extra 2,290 ABs and apply his season best .353 average to these ABs. That would give him an extra 808 hits. Even with these VERY generous assumptions his hit total comes to 4,127 which is 129 hits shy of Rose's 4,256.

I honestly think that Molitor could have played a few more years. I remember being upset when he retired instead of finishing his career with the Brewers. Had the Brewers still been in the A.L., it may have been a different story.

[NievesNoNO]

Yeah, I doubt he would've reached Rose either, however had he been healthy and been close at the end of his career he may also have chosen to try and hang on a few more years. A lot of "ifs" but it's fun to speculate. On a side note, had Ichiro played in the US for his whole career we might be talking about him challenging Rose. I just love watching pure hitters, not necessarily power guys. There are a lot of great hitters in the game now, but not many in the Molitor, Rose, or Ichiro type mold.