Molitor The Man in Minnesota

11/4/2014

The Minnesota Twins announced this week that they will name Paul Molitor the 13th Manager in club history on Tuesday, agreeing to a three-year contract that covers the 2015-17 seasons.

Molitor, 58, served as a Twins coach in 2014, overseeing: baserunning, bunting, infield instruction and positioning, as well as in-game strategy. Prior to 2014, he served as the Twins minor league baserunning/infield coordinator for 10 seasons (2003, 2005-13). He was the Seattle Mariners hitting coach in 2004 and Twins bench coach from 2000-01, giving him 14 years of major league and minor league coaching experience.

The first ballot Hall of Famer was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004 after 21 seasons in Major League Baseball. He played 2,683 career games for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins, amassing 3,319 hits, 605 doubles, 114 triples, 234 home runs, 1,307 RBI, 1,782 runs scored, 1,094 walks and 504 stolen bases, while posting a .306 batting average. On Major League Baseball's all-time list, he ranks ninth in hits, 11th in doubles, 19th in runs scored and 31st in games played. He is one of six players in baseball history to record over 3,000 hits and steal over 500 bases. He was named to seven all-star teams and earned four Louisville Slugger® Silver Slugger Awards.

The St. Paul native was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers with the third overall pick in the 1977 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Minnesota, where he played from 1975-77. He grew up in St. Paul and attended Cretin High School from 1971-74.

Molitor will become the 13th manager in Twins history and third since 1986. The Twins all-time managers are: Ron Gardenhire (2002-14, record of 1068-1039), Tom Kelly (1986-2001, record of 1,140-1,244), Ray Miller (1985-86, record of 109-130), Billy Gardner (1981-85, record of 268-353), Johnny Goryl (1980-81, record of 34-38), Gene Mauch (1976-80, record of 378-394),Frank Quilici (1972-75, record of 280-287), Bill Rigney (1970-72, record of 208-184), Billy Martin (1969, record of 97-65), Cal Ermer (1967-68, record of 145-129), Sam Mele (1961-67, record of 522-431) and Cookie Lavagetto(1961, record of 25-41).

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