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Monday, December 08, 2003

Mollie-fied
Bruce Jenkins needs his head examined. He says he didn't vote for Paul Molitor for the Hall of Fame? Why, you might ask?

"What can I say? I was a working journalist throughout Molitor's career, saw him play countless times, and unlike Eddie Murray or Cal Ripken, he didn't have "Cooperstown" written all over him, not until he got to Toronto at a late stage of his career."

Hmm. Not very Moneyball of Bruce. Maybe he's thinking about going down to clubhouse to get a quote from Mollie instead of remembering him play.

Molitor's career marks and all time rankings:
Hits 3319 #9
Doubles 605 #10
Runs 1782 #17
Times on Base 4460 #17
Total Bases 4854 #21
Extra Base Hits 953 #30

So by many standards (apart from the nights Mr. Jenkins watched Molitor labor), he was one of the top 20 most productive hitters of his or any other time.

Baseball Reference compares players who put up similar stats, using Bill James's similarity scores standards. Here's the players closest to Mollie.

Robin Yount (831) *
George Brett (828) *
Paul Waner (800) *
Roberto Clemente (796) *
Vada Pinson (785)
Lou Brock (767) *
Tony Gwynn (763)
Al Oliver (760)
Al Kaline (746) *
Goose Goslin (746) *

*- Enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

So what doesn't seem Hall material about Molitor? Hey Bruce, being very good for a very long time makes you a Hall of Famer.

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