No. 3,000

Paul Molitor recalls reading a magazine piece five or six years ago in which players were handicapped according to their chances of joining the exclusive 3,000-hit club.

His teammate at the time, Milwaukee Brewer outfielder Robin Yount, was given 4 to 1 odds. Kansas City Royal third baseman George Brett was 8 to 1. Molitor, who had about 1,900 hits at the time, was listed at 1,000 to 1.

“They said I was too injury-prone, and I was getting old,” said Molitor, the Minnesota Twins’ designated hitter. “I wasn’t really thinking about 3,000 hits then. It wasn’t like I called Vegas and put down a couple of hundred.”

Too bad. Molitor, who turned 40 this summer, hit the Hall of Fame jackpot Monday night, becoming the 21st player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits, a milestone that is usually accompanied by an automatic ticket to Cooperstown.

And he did it with a flourish, becoming the first of the 21 to do it with a triple. Playing against the Royals at Kansas City, he singled in the first inning for No. 2,999, then flied out in the third. With one out in the fifth, he hit a fly ball to the opposite field against rookie Jose Rosado. Center fielder Rod Myers and right fielder Jon Nunnally both tried to run it down but slowed to avoid colliding and the ball dropped behind them.

The hit was Molitor’s American League-leading 211th of the season, and the 105th triple of his 19-year career.

He may be baseball’s seventh-oldest active player; he may have been around so long he’s competing against the sons of guys he once played with, but Molitor has taken Father Time’s best pitch and ripped it into the gap.

Just look at the way he still legs out infield hits and runs the bases.

Just listen to opposing pitchers, who still consider him one of the toughest outs in baseball.

Just scan his statistics, which show he has amassed 1,130 of his hits since 1991, the year he turned 35.

“A lot of people can’t endure the rigors of the game,” said Molitor, who besides leading the league in hits is third in batting at .344. “But to be the exception to the rule, to stay productive at 40, there’s no secret. I just have a competitive spirit . . . that flame has not been extinguished.”

It was down to a flicker in 1995. Molitor was suffering the worst season of his career, batting .233 with four homers and 24 runs batted in through June for the Toronto Blue Jays, the team he helped to the 1993 World Series championship.

Toronto had lost three of four to the Angels in early July, fans in stadiums across the country were bitter over the strike, and as a key player in labor negotiations, Molitor found he was a lightning rod for hostility.

“It wasn’t any fun--I had to force myself to go to the park every day, which was completely opposite of what I’ve always done,” Molitor said. “I told my wife I was thinking of retiring at the All-Star break. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t enjoying my job.”

Linda Molitor urged Paul to play out the season, see what happened. Several players Molitor confided in offered the same advice. Molitor hit .292 with 11 homers and 36 RBIs in the second half to finish with a .270 average, 15 homers and 60 RBIs.

He was further rejuvenated last winter when his hometown Twins signed him to a free-agent contract, and the St. Paul native has responded with what he calls one of his most rewarding seasons.

Besides his high average, Molitor has 106 RBIs, only the second time in his career he has surpassed the 100-RBI mark, 36 doubles, 95 runs and 17 stolen bases. After sitting out almost 500 games because of injuries early in his career, he has played every game this season.

Molitor became only the second player past 40 to collect 200 hits in a season, following Sam Rice of the 1930 Washington Senators, and his reputation as one of the game’s best breaking-ball hitters, and one of its best clutch hitters, has not diminished.

“He’s not the guy you want to see with a man on third and one out, that’s for sure,” Angel pitcher Chuck Finley said. “What makes him so tough is there’s no one way to get him out. . . . Heck, he’s a tough guy to just intentionally walk.”

Molitor, who played his first 15 seasons in Milwaukee, has also been a soothing presence in a clubhouse full of young, impressionable players who were shaken by the loss of outfielder Kirby Puckett to glaucoma just before the season began.

Molitor tries to pattern his game after hard-driving Pete Rose, and the Twins seem to have followed Molitor’s pace, leading the league in batting and ranking sixth in runs despite the lack of a true power threat. Though a playoff berth is unlikely, Minnesota (74-76) has not been eliminated from the race.

“Being part of a club that exceeds expectations, that is overachieving, and being a veteran presence on a younger team can translate into fulfillment,” said Molitor, who hit .500 with two homers and eight RBIs in the 1993 World Series, earning most-valuable-player honors.

“While it may fall a little short of winning the World Series, it still ranks up there with some of my most enjoyable seasons,” he added.

Outside of 1993, few would know of Molitor’s best seasons, because he has played in relative obscurity. Yount was the franchise player in Milwaukee, and Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar attracted most of the attention in Toronto.

Molitor has been called “the most nondescript superstar in baseball,” but it’s not because he has no personality--it’s just that he rarely gets a chance to show it, and when he does, few take notice.

When you’re a low-key, don’t-rock-the-boat player who answers reporters’ questions politely, who does not start bench-clearing brawls or verbally spar with opposing pitchers, who idolizes Bruce Springsteen, not Alice In Chains, you tend to blend in.

“I try to think before answering questions--maybe that’s a bad thing, I don’t know,’ Molitor said, chuckling. “It’s not that I shun the spotlight or that I couldn’t deal with it, but in a lot of ways it’s been more comfortable not being in it.”

Molitor seems most comfortable at the plate, where he employs Mike Easler’s “see-read-explode” approach as well as any major leaguer. There’s no hitch in his swing, no excessive leg movements--Molitor simply remains still for as long as he can, identifies the pitch and lets his bat speed do the rest.

“Waiting on the pitch longer doesn’t generate a lot of power,” Molitor said. “But it gives you a better chance of being consistent.”

Consistency is what Molitor has always strived for. Ten times, he has hit better than .300. Not counting a .217 mark in injury-plagued 1984, when he was limited to 13 games, his lowest average was .267 in 1981.

In his last six seasons, the infielder-turned-DH is hitting a remarkable .322 with 88 homers, 515 RBIs and 587 runs. Molitor ranks 18th on the all-time doubles list (540), 27th in runs (1,640) and 37th in stolen bases (483).

And now he has 3,000 hits, which is as much a testament to his endurance--and perseverance--as his skill.

“It’s amazing how the game comes full cycle, because I remember walking into my first spring training in 1978, and who pulls up next to me but Sal Bando,” Molitor said.

“I was tongue-tied. I said hello. Then I made the mistake of telling him he was one of my favorite players when I was in grade school.”

Another teammate on that 1978 Brewer team was catcher Larry Haney. Tonight, Molitor will bat against Larry’s son, Kansas City pitcher Chris Haney.

“You stop and think of the gap between me and the young players and it’s pretty amazing,” said Molitor, who is almost twice the age of 21-year-old Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez. “Sure, there are days I wake up and my body tells me I’m 40. You just try not to let it affect your mind-set.”

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Select Club

Major league players with 3,000 hits or more, and their career batting averages:

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Player Hits Avg Pete Rose 4,256 .303 Ty Cobb 4,191 .367 Hank Aaron 3,771 .305 Stan Musial 3,630 .331 Tris Speaker 3,515 .344 Honus Wagner 3,430 .329 Carl Yastrzemski 3,419 .285 Eddie Collins 3,309 .333 Willie Mays 3,283 .302 Nap Lajoie 3,252 .339 Eddie Murray 3,209 .289 George Brett 3,154 .305 Paul Waner 3,152 .333 Robin Yount 3,142 .285 Dave Winfield 3,110 .283 Cap Anson 3,081 .334 Rod Carew 3,053 .328 Lou Brock 3,023 .293 Al Kaline 3,007 .297 Paul Molitor 3,001 .308 Roberto Clemente 3,000 .317

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