Blue Jays Flashback: Paul Molitor
A leading light in the Blue Jays’ famous 1993 season, Paul Molitor is the latest Toronto legend to be given the Kevin Glew treatment in Bodog’s Blue Jays Flashback series.
He had big shoes to fill – literally.
And boy, did Paul Molitor fill them.
The Milwaukee Brewers legend was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on December 7, 1992 to replace 6-foot-6 Dave Winfield as the team’s DH.
In his sole season with the Blue Jays, Winfield had become a fan favourite and helped the team to their first World Series title.
But Winfield had turned 41 that October, so the Blue Jays opted to sign Molitor, another Cooperstown-bound, St. Paul, Minn., native who was nearly five years younger.
And while Winfield wanted noise in 1992, Molitor brought poise in 1993 – not to mention his remarkable bat speed and clutch hitting. By the time Molitor had hit .374 and earned American League Player of the Month honours in May, Blue Jays fans were over Winfield and falling in love with their classy new DH.
And from there, their love for Molitor would only grow. The future Hall of Famer would top the American League in hits (211), finish second to John Olerud in the AL batting race (.332) and enjoy his first 100-RBI season.
On top of that, Molitor immersed himself in charitable endeavors in Toronto and moved his family to the city.
But Blue Jays fans will most remember him for his 11-for-24 performance in the World Series and quietly leading the Blue Jays to their second consecutive championship.
How Popular Did Molitor Become?
In Game 2 of the Fall Classic, a sign was hung at SkyDome that read “Molitor for Prime Minister.”
To think that if Molitor had his way initially, that magical 1993 season with the Blue Jays never would have happened.
You see, the future Hall of Famer never wanted to leave the Brewers, whom he had played his first 15 major league seasons with. He was coming off a strong 1992 campaign in which he batted .320, had a career-high 89 RBIs and had helped the Brewers challenge the Blue Jays for the AL East title until late September.
But the Brewers were a small-market club and Molitor was making over $3 million a season. The Brewers only offered him a one-year deal with a pay cut to stay.
It was a disappointing end to his tenure with the Brew Crew. Selected third overall by the Brewers out of the University of Minnesota in 1977, Molitor quickly rose through the minor league ranks and was in the big leagues the following year.
He finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 1978, batted .322 in 1979 and was selected to his first All-Star Game in 1980. Over the years, he’d play several positions for the Brewers, including shortstop, second base, third base and outfield. His best position, however, was always the batter’s box.
After hitting leadoff and helping the Brewers to a postseason appearance in 1981, he did it again in 1982, topping the American League with 136 runs to help propel the Brewers to the American League pennant. They lost the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals, but Molitor couldn’t be blamed, he had a team-leading 11 hits.
Over the next decade, Molitor missed significant playing time due to injuries, but when he was healthy, he never stopped being productive at the plate. With the Brewers, he was selected to five All-Star games, won two Silver Slugger Awards, and hit .300 or better in a season eight times. In 1987, he had a 39-game hitting streak, a number that no major leaguer has equaled since.
But despite his resume, the Brewers made little effort to sign him after the 1992 season and he inked a three-year, $13-million deal with the Blue Jays.
With the Blue Jays, he would bat third and become a centerpiece of the vaunted WAMCO (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter, Olerud) offence. And at the age of 36, he put together his best season, setting career-highs with 22 home runs and 111 RBIs. He hit a phenomenal .384 with runners in scoring position and .361 in the second half.
He also stole 22 bases to become the oldest player to have a 20-home run, 20-stolen base season in major league history.
And his hot hitting, of course, didn’t stop in the regular season. He went 9-for-23 (.391 batting average) against the Chicago White Sox in the American League Championship Series and then batted .458 in the Fall Classic to secure World Series MVP honours.
Longtime Blue Jays fans will tell you that aside from the image of Joe Carter leaping around the bases after his walk-off World Series-winning home run, the most enduring image of that October is the embrace between Molitor and manager Cito Gaston after the Blue Jays had won. Both had tears in their eyes.
“I’m so happy for Molitor,” Gaston said repeatedly in the post-game interviews.
Though Canadian fans tend to remember Molitor for 1993, he had an even higher batting average in 1994, hitting .341. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays slumped to a 55-60 record before a strike wiped out the rest of the season.
Molitor batted .270 in 130 games in his final campaign with the Blue Jays in 1995 before signing with his hometown Twins where, in 1996, he topped the American League with 225 hits at the age of 39.
He spent two more seasons with the Twins before retiring with 3,319 hits, which rank as the 11th most in major league history. His 605 doubles are the 15th most, and he is one of only seven big leaguers to record 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.
For his efforts, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004 in his first year of eligibility.
Following his playing career, he became a respected coach and eventually a big league manager with the Twins from 2015 to 2018.
But in Canada, people still think of him as the Blue Jays’ classy World Series MVP, a player with remarkable bat speed who had big shoes to fill — and he filled them and more.
“It was the pinnacle of my career,” said Molitor in a Sportsnet interview in 2020 of his 1993 season with the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays fans would agree.
JOIN BODOG TODAY!