Paul Molitor | My First Cards

#195 Paul Molitor

May 13, 2010 @ 3:58 am

Before '82 started, Paul Molitor was already a star. He's almost won Rookie of the Year in '78, got some MVP consideration in '79, voted into the All-Star game in '80, and played in the AL playoffs in '81.

Despite that, I consider 1982 to be his breakout season. He led the world in runs scored with 136, which was the highest total by any player since 1970.

You might think he did that only because of the sluggers behind him in the order like Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas, or Cecil Cooper, but Paul did his part by knocking out 201 hits, 300 total bases, and stealing 41 bases (4th most in the American League).

In fact, Paul had a 3 homer game. One in his first at-bat, then smacking another in the 5th, while the last came off uber-closer Dan Quisenberry. That wasn't easy back then, when the Royals had pitching and the KC on the Royals cap meant "Kansas City" not "Keystone Cops".

Whether Molitor was scoring on his own or with a little help from his friends, the fact is, the Brewers were a totally different team on days Paul didn't cross home plate. In games he scored at least 1 run, the Brew Crew were an unbeatable team, going 70-22. If he didn't score, they were a weak 24-52! The winning percentage difference is .761 when he scored, and just .316 when he didn't.

If we look at this from a slightly different angle, we find that the Brewers really couldn't get the job done without him being on his game. Paul hit .327/.401/.509 in the Brewers victories in '82, but only .268/.315/.370 in their losses. It doesn't matter how good the middle of your order is hitting, if your leadoff man has a .315 OBP. Foretunately, Molitor was at his best far more often than he wasn't.

The Brewers, often called Harvey's Wallbangers at the time, made the playoffs for the 2nd season in a row, and this time they found themselves in the World Series. Paul, was a big part of Milwaukee's success in the post-season, killing the Angels pitchers to the tune of a 1.065 OPS, and then got on base at a .394 clip against the Cardinals pitchers in the World Series.

Unfortunately for Paul and his team, they lost game 7 of that series....so close, but yet so far. It would be another 11 seasons before he'd find himself playing for a championship again, this time with the Blue Jays. That time, he won it.

A few years later he retired as one of the all-time great batters....scoring more than 1700 runs, collecting over 3300 hits, stealing more than 500 bases, hit over .300, and an OBP of .369.