Twins History: Remembering this respected Hall of Famer's Silver Slugger season

Silver Slugger Award season is upon us.

The winners for the National League will be revealed on FanSided's "The Baseball Insiders" YouTube show at 5:00 p.m. CST on Nov. 6, with the American League winners being revealed at the same time on Nov. 7. Just a couple of weeks ago, FanSided announced the 2025 Silver Slugger finalists in both leagues, and Minnesota's Byron Buxton deservingly was named among the hitters who can win the award.

But before we learn more about this season's award winners, let's take a take step back and remember one of the best and most surprising offensive seasons in Twins history. In 1996, MLB Hall of Famer Paul Molitor signed with the Twins after playing 18 historic seasons with the Blue Jays and the Brewers.

One of the game's purest hitters of the 1980s and 1990s, Molitor still had some juice left in the tank when he joined Minnesota deep into his 30s. In his age-39 season, Molitor was named a Silver Slugger for the fourth time in his illustrious career.

It was during this season when he joined the 3,000-hit club, which put him in the conversation of a Silver Slugger Award, but Molitor went much further than just walking to a milestone.

Molitor tabbed a career-high 225 hits that season, marking his fourth 200-plus hit campaign. He batted .341 in 1996, which tied for the second clip of his career. Molitor slapped 41 doubles, which tied for a career-best, too.

Molitor played through his age-41 season, closing out his playing career with the Twins. In those three years, he batted .312 with a .794 OPS. His longest hitting streak in 1996 lasted 14 games, which was capped by a 5-for-5 game. Another stretch worth mentioning was his red-hot start to June, when he registered 16 hits in the first week of the month alongside muscling three of his nine home runs. He also delivered 12 of his career-high 113 RBIs during this span. Not bad for an older guy.