BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : For Molitor, System Seems to Be Working Fine, Thanks

Looking back Saturday night to that point in time last winter when he was looking ahead, Paul Molitor said:

“I knew if I came here and was healthy, that in this ballpark and this lineup, I’d have a chance to do things I’d never done before.”

And how.

Capping what he said was the best of his 15 seasons, Molitor did what he never would have had a chance to do had he stayed with the Milwaukee Brewers.

He emerged from the 90th World Series as the most valuable player, and amid the euphoria of the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse, he was hugged by his former Brewer boss, owner Bud Selig, baseball’s interim commissioner.

“Paul wanted to stay and we wanted him to stay,” Selig said of the free-agent negotiations of last winter.

“The system just wouldn’t allow it, and Paul would agree with that. He would tell you that this is a manifestation of a system that doesn’t work, but my affection for him is so deep that I only want the best for him. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Molitor couldn’t have been happier either. He homered, tripled and then singled ahead of Joe Carter’s ninth-inning homer in Game 6 to seal the MVP decision.

The Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6, and Molitor went from microphone to microphone insisting that the World Series ring he will eventually receive represented the bottom line on his three-year, $14-million contract.

The system didn’t work? Hadn’t the Brewers offered only one year at $2.5 million, a $600,000 reduction from his 1992 salary?

“As time went by, both Bud and I had a better understanding of what happened (in their negotiations),” Molitor said. “I was disappointed initially, but I grew to understand their limitations. I have too much respect for Bud to harbor any bitterness.

“I know there are no guarantees, but the track record here is so strong that I felt Toronto represented my best shot at winning.

“I mean, one of the first things (General Manager) Pat Gillick and (club President) Paul Beeston said to me when we began negotiating was that until the system is changed, they are going to try and win as often as they can and as fast as they can. A player can’t ask for more.”

Nor could the Blue Jays ask for more from the 37-year-old Molitor. He batted .332, slugged 22 homers and drove in 111 runs during the regular season.

He batted .474 in the playoff victory over the Chicago White Sox, a tuneup for his .500 average in the World Series, a 12-for-24 effort that included two home runs, eight RBIs and appearances at first base, third base and designated hitter.

“I dreamed of winning a World Series as all players do, but who can dream of being the MVP?” Molitor said. “I mean, you run the gamut of emotions from thankful to elation to tears.

“There are a lot of great offensive players on this team, and I don’t think any of them could ever dream about doing more than helping the team win.

“I’m very gratified about everything that’s taken place.”

What took place was no surprise, really.

He batted .355 in Milwaukee’s World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982, but that was another life, more than a decade ago.

Saturday night, he tripled in the first Toronto run in the first inning, homered in the fifth and watched in frustration as the Phillies rallied to take a 6-5 lead with five runs in the seventh.

Then, after Rickey Henderson walked to open the ninth against Mitch (the Mild Thing) Williams and Devon White flied out, Molitor lined a single to center on a 1-and-1 fastball.

“In that situation, I’m trying to block out the natural thing, which is to go up thinking about a two-run homer,” Molitor said.

“I’m trying to fight the percentages and stay away from that thinking.

“All I want to do is keep the inning going, keep the line moving for Joe.”

Ironically, Molitor said he didn’t even see the first pitch Williams threw him because the delivery was obscured by second-base umpire Paul Runge.

Molitor asked Runge to move to the other side of second, took a strike to even the count, then delivered the hit that set the stage for Carter.

“The image of that ball going over the fence will stay with me forever,” Molitor said. “We wanted to avoid a seventh game, and we felt that with the top of the lineup up in the ninth inning we could generate a tie, and we were hoping that Williams might contribute to it with his wildness.”

The hopes were answered, and Molitor became the Series MVP a year after the man he replaced in Toronto, Dave Winfield, delivered the decisive hit for the Blue Jays in the decisive game of last year’s World Series.

Molitor lived with the Winfield pressure for a time, but eventually shed that and all other pressure.

“It’s going to take several months for all this to sink in,” he said. “It’s going to make for a very nice off-season thinking back on it.”