Paul Molitor Joined One of Baseball’s Rarest Clubs 28 Years Ago with Twins

The former Minnesota Twins star reached a feat only a handful of players have done and did so while he was in the Twin Cities.

Paul Molitor is introduced during the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On Aug. 8, 1998, 41-year-old Twins designated hitter Paul Molitor went 5-for-5 against the Baltimore Orioles. He also stole the 500th base of his career, becoming only the fifth player in Major League history at the time to combine 3,000 hits with 500 steals.

Speed had once been a central part of Molitor's game, as he stole 30 or more bases in eight seasons during his Hall of Fame career. But by 1998, Molitor was in his 21st and final Major League season and was primarily serving as a designated hitter. He made 115 appearances at DH during his final 126-game season.

Despite his advanced age, his athleticism had not fully waned. Molitor entered the game with 499 career steals before reaching the milestone against Baltimore. He also collected five hits in five at-bats, producing one of the most complete offensive games of his final season even as Minnesota lost 6-3.

Molitor’s Twins Tenure Produced Another Milestone

Paul Molitor evades New York Yankees shortstop Mike Gallego during the first inning on May 29, 1992. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Two years earlier, the St. Paul native recorded his 3,000th career hit as a Twin, becoming the first Major League player to reach the mark with a triple. By the time he stole base No. 500, Molitor had combined two skills that rarely coexist over an entire career: elite bat-to-ball ability and exceptional baserunning longevity.

Today, only seven players have accumulated both 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson, Ichiro Suzuki and Molitor.

In today’s game, very few players possess the offensive profile necessary to join such an exclusive club.

Players such as Trea Turner and Jose Altuve have had the same general skill set at their best, combining strong contact ability with speed and on-base production, but neither appears likely to reach both milestones. Altuve remains an excellent hitter and is closing in on 2,500 hits, but stolen bases have not been a major part of his game for years. The last time he stole more than 30 bases in a season was 2017.

Turner presents the opposite problem. He has produced individual seasons that resemble the type of pace necessary to eventually reach 3,000 hits and 500 steals, but he has not accumulated enough hits to make 3,000 realistic at this stage of his career. Even reaching 2,000 remains ahead of him.

That difficulty only makes Molitor’s accomplishment more remarkable. Even players who appear to possess the right combination of contact and speed have struggled to maintain both skills long enough to approach 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.

Molitor managed to do it at 41 years old, in the final season of a storied career and long after his speed had begun to decline. The milestone completed a statistical combination that remains almost impossible to replicate and represents the logical extreme of a contact-and-speed-oriented player.