Paul Molitor

Former Blue Jay (and Brewer and Twin) Paul Molitor became the latest addition to my collection! He finally answered a request after two past failed attempts (here and here).

I'm pretty excited about this one... not only was Molitor an incredible Hall of Famer who played for my hometown Jays, it also increases my success for TTM returns with Hall of Famers, and he signed on one of the remaining cards I need for my childhood McDonald's Jays set. Thanks Paul!

Failure #27: Paul Molitor

The great Hall of Famer Paul Molitor is the current manager of the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately Mr. Molitor gets too many requests to respond with an autograph request. My letter was returned with a lovely generic note of thanks, as well as a small card with a headshot of Molitor (and my 3x5 note card and return envelope was also returned).

Molitor was on the 1993 Blue Jays roster - the last time my favorite team won the World Series! I'd love to get this autograph some day!

Failure #24: Paul Molitor

I was a bit sad to get this one back.  I sent a request to Paul Molitor (who happens to be one of the few former Toronto Blue Jays in the Hall) via the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It was then forwarded to John Boggs and Associates (Molitor's professional representatives) who opened my letter, and returned it with with the letter you see informing me that they do not forward mail to their players.

You would think the Hall of Fame would simply send it back to me, instead of forwarding it to someone who is going to open and reject my request, but that is the way it goes sometimes!

Toronto Blue Jays in the Hall of Fame

I grew up near Toronto, Ontario, and at the age of 9, the Blue Jays won back to back World World Championships.  It was in that moment that my passion for baseball, and for the Toronto Blue Jays, was really born.

When I originally wrote this post in November 2010 there were only four Blue Jays players in the Hall of Fame. In just the past few years that number has doubled  -

Rickey Henderson
Dave Winfield
Paul Molitor
Phil Niekro
Roberto Alomar
Jack Morris
Frank Thomas
Roy Halladay

Five of them were crucial in the Blue Jay's championship seasons. Halladay is the only one to have been inducted after his death. In addition to these players, there is one manager and one exec who have been inducted who are connected to the team.

Bobby Cox
Pat Gillick

Back in 2010 I didn't have an autograph from any of these players. Since then my collection has added five (linked above), as well as Niekro, who's autograph I had for a moment before trading it away.

Updated January 2020