#207 Paul Molitor

About the Front: Maybe it's a trick of the light, but this photo does a good job of de-emphasizing the dense thicket of fur on Paul Molitor's arms. I swear the guy was Robin Williams-level hairy.

About the Back: Caption: "HEEEEYYYY, you guys!"

Triple Play:

1. Molitor has admitted to using cocaine and marijuana early in his career, but has reportedly been drug-free since 1981. He subsequently visited schools to educate children about the dangers of drug use.

2. A partial list of his career highlights includes a 39-game hitting streak in 1987, a .418 batting average in World Series play, the 1993 World Series MVP (12-for-24 with a 1.000 slugging percentage, 10 runs scored, and no strikeouts!), 11 career steals of home plate, and 33 career home runs leading off games (third-most behind Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonds).

3. Paul was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2004, having been named on 85.2% of all ballots cast. I can only assume that the 75 cretinous writers who didn't vote for Molly were either bozos who believed that nobody should be unanimous or they were moralizing scolds who didn't approve of his youthful indiscretions in his early twenties.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: Molitor was a force of nature in his late thirties. The guy almost seemed to get better with age.

Bill James Said: "Is now almost certain to get 3,000 hits, and could become the seventh player to score 2,000 runs." Molitor got his 3,000th hit late in the 1996 season, his first with his hometown Twins; that year he led the league with a career-high 225 hits at age 40. He retired with 3,319 base knocks, tenth-most all-time. He fell short of 2,000 runs, finishing with 1,782. That's still good for 20th in MLB history.

On This Date in 1993: May 2. The Rangers stomp the Brewers, 13-2. Jose Canseco goes 3-for-5 with a double, a homer, and four RBI. Robb Nen earns his first big league win with six innings of two-hit ball, though he does walk five. Nen will make two more starts as a major leaguer before switching to relief and going on to save 314 games for the Marlins and Giants. Earning a goofy three-inning save is Jeff Bronkey, who keeps Milwaukee off the scoreboard the rest of the way. It is Bronkey's debut; to date, he is the only player in MLB history to be born in Afghanistan.