Paul Molitor may have been one of the greatest batters to never win a batting crown. In 1993 his .332 mark finished second to teammate John Olerud (.363) and ahead of another teammate, Roberto Alomar (.326). A list of post-WW2 players to post a .300+ batting average, 3,000+ hits, and 500+ stolen bases consists only of Molitor and Ichiro Suzuki. Historians that want to hearken back to the deadball era only add three more names to the list: Eddie Collins, Honus Wagner, and Ty Cobb.
Molitor is often thought of as a brittle player that was frequently held out of the lineup by physical ailments. While it is true that he missed nearly a quarter of the scheduled games between his debut and appearing in the 1993 Finest checklist, his position as a lead-off hitter still left him with only two seasons with fewer than 450 plate appearances.
If one were to magically imbue Molitor with Ripken-esque longevity and assume he continued performing as he did across every scheduled game in his 21 year career, Molitor would end up with 4,208 career hits, coming within a few dozen of all-time leader Pete Rose. Molitor actually wrapped up his career with a higher batting average than Rose, as well as greater odds of getting doubles, triples, and home runs per plate appearance.
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Molitor wasn’t just about hitting, he was an excellent baserunner. His batting average on balls in play stood 20 points higher than his overall average, a testament to how difficult it was to throw him out on the basepaths. He stole second, third, and home in the same inning of a July 1987 game and is the last guy to have double digit steals of home plate across a career.
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I added this Molitor card to my refractor set at the same time I picked up cards of Mike Piazza and Brett Butler. The card was part of a run of mostly medium grade (near mint) cards of big names that became available at prices too attractive to ignore. This copy is off-centered, though not as badly as the picture would indicate. That lopsided look is a reflection of a badly done cropping job in my image editing software. The case is heavily scratched, something that came across in the scan of the card’s back.
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![](https://cardboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/1993_006_Butler.jpg)
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