Circle of Greats Round 20 Results: Unsinkable Molly |

Paul Molitor (Molly) very nearly won the 14th round of the Circle of Greats voting but a late trend in the balloting left him second by a single vote. He’s had solid support each round since then but not quite enough to win induction. Until now, that is, as he becomes our 20th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. His manner of election seems to echo his profile in the sport: never the dominant superstar, but consistently successful for a long, long time and multi-talented at a very high level, with a history of rising to the special occasion of the post-season. More on Paul and the voting after the jump.

Combining total bases and stolen bases may not be a sabermetric precision tool, but it gives a quick summary view at a relatively broad combination of achievements. Here’s a table showing the top 10 career totals in AL history that you get when you add total bases and stolen bases together:

[table id=132 /]

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323 hitters have played in at least 25 post-season games. Among that group, the highest career post-season OPS numbers are:

1. Babe Ruth 1.284
2. Carlos Beltran 1.252
3. Lou Gehrig 1.208
4. Lenny Dykstra 1.094
5. David Freese 1.052
6. Paul Molitor 1.050
7. Albert Pujols 1.046
8. George Brett 1.023

Molitor was, by the way, DH in only 9 of his 29 post-season games. And while his post-season career is most closely associated with his spectacular 1993 World Series for Toronto, he had over a 1.000 OPS in three of the five post-season series in which he participated — his OPS was over 1.000 in both the 1982 and 1993 ALCS’s in addition to that ’93 World Series.

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Not far behind Molitor’s 29 votes this round, we had a closely bunched procession: Gwynn at 24, Raines at 23, Whitaker at 22 and Trammell at 21. The three guys on the bubble — Murray, Sandberg and Alomar — survived yet again, and again did not generate enough support to get off the bubble. John Smoltz has now received more COG votes in total than any other player, but Tony Gwynn is just behind, and if current trends continue will soon pass Smoltz.

As usual, you can check out the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs. The link is here: Round 20 Vote Tally

If you would like to review the history of the COG voting, a spreadsheet summary of the voting is here: COG Vote Summary , with a summary of the raw vote totals on Sheet 1 and a summary of the percentage totals on Sheet 2.

The Circle of Greats membership thus far:
Jeff Bagwell
Wade Boggs
Barry Bonds
George Brett
Gary Carter
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Rickey Henderson
Randy Johnson
Barry Larkin
Greg Maddux
Paul Molitor
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Curt Schilling
Ozzie Smith
Frank Thomas
Larry Walker
Robin Yount

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John Autin

10 years ago

Congrats to Molitor. While he had many great seasons, I best remember him from my high-school Strat-O-Matic days. We used deep rosters in those days, lots of platooning, and his 2nd and 3rd seasons saw him crush lefties for .387/1.030 and .364/.988. Not a great fielder, but his 4/6/5 flexibility and SB prowess made him a valuable piece.

Back to reality … One of the greatest World Series performers ever, Molly hit safely in 11 of 13 WS games and scored in 9 of those, totaling 15 runs and 11 RBI, .418/1.112. Icing on the cake of a great career.

Hartvig

Not only did I not consider Molitor the best player on this ballot I don’t even consider him the best player on his rookie baseball card http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-TOPPS-707-PAUL-MOLITOR-ROOKIE-RC-BREWERS-VG-NO-CREASES-/171052104548?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item27d37ffb64

That said, I also believe that he easily clears the bar for being worthy for inclusion into the Circle of Greats.

Plus maybe this will enhance the value of a certain baseball card I gave to all of my niece’s children when they were born.

Reply to Hartvig

Wow, Hartvig — did anyone notice that Mickey Klutts was a dead ringer for Rob Reiner? (And not just in the batter’s box…)

Reply to John Autin

How on earth did he ever escape the nickname “Meathead”?

True, but … In a time of nickname scarcity, could the game afford to spend one on a guy already named Mickey Klutts? 🙂

Shping

Only thing missing on this card is U.L. Washington’s toothpick.

michael Sullivan

I think we’re doing a fantastic job in the voting so far, even if I’ve had a few disagreements with the results. We haven’t elected anybody that doesn’t have a really solid case to belong in a 112 player COG, and all of the players we are continuing to keep on the ballot have at least a borderline case. Also, we haven’t dropped off a single player that is better than borderline for COG, even if a couple have been clear for a 200+ hall and might get resurrected (and even possibly make it) later. That’s a *much* better record… Read more »

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birtelcom

Reply to michael Sullivan

If you look at the top 22 players in career WAR (b-ref version, overall WAR for hitters, pitching WAR for pitchers) born between 1952 and 1968, we have elected 19 of them to the COG — only Whitaker, Palmeiro and Trammell are not in. The only player not in that top 22 who we have elected is Piazza, but catchers tend to accumulate fewer career games, and thus fewer career WAR, than other players.

Jeff Hill

I’d love to see a NL version of those total bases/SB combined or an overall MLB chart.

bstar

Reply to Jeff Hill

The NL and MLB version would be similar at the top, as the top four in career total bases are all NL guys (Aaron, Musial, Mays, Bonds). Here’s the top four in the NL: NL total bases + stolen bases 1. Henry Aaron – 7,096 2. Barry Bonds – 6,490 3. Willie Mays – 6,404 4. Stan Musial – 6,212 So Ty Cobb would be the only AL guy to crack the top 5 for all of MLB (he’d be second behind Aaron). FWIW, I think Aaron’s 700+ lead over second place in total bases is one of the more… Read more »

BryanM

I always thought of Molitor as one of the smartest baserunners I ever saw, not the fastest, but he would get a tremendous jump on any ground ball to the right side ; went From second to third on balls to the left side a lot. Great judgment And of course. Scored a lot of runs in the post season

mosc

Reply to BryanM

He focused in on the action, was great at analyzing pitcher’s deliveries and timings. He would also run hard and force the throw more often than average in my memory. He set the tone of those ball clubs in many ways with his energy on the base paths. A tough out, good mistake hitter, a good “older” player too. Was always a big fan.