Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor from St. Paul will be in Cooperstown, N.Y., in three weeks when Ichiro Suzuki from Japan will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Molitor, the former Twins American League Manager of the Year in 2017, was Suzuki’s hitting coach with the Mariners in 2004, the season he set MLB’s single-season hits record of 262.

“The funny thing is that during spring training, the Mariners wanted me to talk to him about being more patient, taking more pitches and trying to get on base more,” Molitor told the Pioneer Press. “After trying that in spring training, and two or three weeks of the season, I could tell he was getting frustrated, and I told him that everything we talked about in spring training, just forget about it. Just go back to who you were.”

Molitor, who had 3,319 hits during a 21-year career, never had a 50-hit month in a season. Ichiro, who 3,089 hits during a major league 19-year career, had three 50-hit months.

“Think about that,” Molitor said. “It was remarkable to watch him find a way to get 262 hits in a 162-game schedule. I’m looking forward in particular to welcoming Ichiro to the Club.”

>> Suzuki will be one of just seven Hall of Famers with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Among others is Molitor, who also missed nearly 500 games because of injuries. Molitor and Suzuki, by the way, are the only players to get triples for their 3,000th hits.

>> Pro Football Hall of Fame former Viking Randall McDaniel is a big fan of St. Paul’s Dennis Ryan, the Vikings’ recently retired equipment manager who last week was honored in Canton, Ohio, by the Hall of Fame after 47 years with the Vikings.

“My rookie year, being from Arizona, in the first cold game I ever played in — at Lambeau Field in Green Bay — I was warming my feet up on the sideline with the old butane heaters and literally set my shoes on fire, melted the rubber around my feet, and had to run out on the field with this melted rubber on my feet,” the former offensive lineman told the Pioneer Press.“I come off the field, and I can’t believe I did this and hopefully no one saw it, and there’s Dennis standing there on the sideline holding up my backup pair of shoes. He already knew. With Dennis you never had to ask for anything — he already knew what you needed. He was the best in the game.”

>> The first-place Cubs come to Target Field on Tuesday to play the Twins with Simley High grad Michael Busch hitting .288 with 17 home runs — three homers hit Friday against the Cardinals — and 55 RBIs in 82 games.

Busch, 27, traded by the Dodgers last year, is playing first base for $780,500 this season and warrants NL All-Star selection. He’ll be in for a big payday next season.

>> The hip surgery former Gopher Max Meyer, 26, had this month is season-ending. The Miami Marlins pitcher from Woodbury had Tommy John surgery in 2022 that caused him to miss the entire 2023 season.

>> Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Housley, 61, from South St. Paul is back in town after his dismissal as associate coach of the New York Rangers. He’ll still be paid for next season while he contemplates the next phase of his hockey career.

>> Former Gopher-NHL center Thomas Vanek’s son Blake, 17, a right wing who played at Stillwater, was the 93rd overall pick by the Ottawa Senators in the recent NHL entry draft.

>> Oklahoma Thunder’s 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren, asked whether he considered the Gophers out of Minnehaha Academy: “Obviously, yeah, hometown school. I just felt it came down to the relationships I built at Gonzaga. It was the perfect situation for myself at the time.”

>> This season’s baseball All-Star Game is July 15 in Atlanta. Only Hall of Famer Tony Oliva, who turns 87 in two months, and Jimmie Hall, 87, remain from a group of six Twins on the 1965 American League All-Star team. Deceased are Harmon Killebrew, Earl Battey, Mudcat Grant and Zoilo Versalles.

Oliva said last week he’s slowly recovering from a “mild stroke” last spring and hopes to return to Target field before the end of this season.

>> Condolences to the family of former Gophers baseball Hall of Famer Mike Walseth, who passed away Friday at 77 from cancer.

>> Jim Christopherson, 87, the former Vikings square-toe kicker and Concordia-Moorhead football coach for 32 years, was a teammate of late Viking Jim Marshall. “I don’t know if people know that Jim ran track at Ohio State,” Christopherson said.

>> Happy birthday: Former longtime Gophers football trainer Jim Marshall, residing at the Minnesota Veterans Home, turned 95 last week.

>> Champions PGA Tour golfer Tim “Lumpy” Herron’s son Carson III of Deephaven — 22 and already nicknamed “Little Lumpy” — made his professional debut Thursday in the John Deere tournament in Silvis, Ill., but missed the cut after rounds of 76 and 73.

>> North Oaks native Frankie Capan III, 25, who will play in the 3M Open July 24-27 at the TPC in Blaine, has earned $270,000 in his rookie PGA Tour season but has missed 12 cuts.

>> South Africa’s 20-year-old Aldrich Potgieter, winner of the recent Rocket PGA Tour tournament in Detroit, is committed to the 3M Open. The 5-11, 211-pounder is averaging 327.4 yards with his driver, No. 1 on the tour.

>> Among celebrities the 3M Open is bringing in for pro-ams and assorted appearances is former Timberwolves forward Wally Szczerbiak.

>> Scheduled to play in the American Century celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe next weekend are Joe Mauer, Adam Thielen, Larry Fitzgerald, TJ Oshie and Aaron Rodgers.

>> Stillwater’s Matt Vandelac, 65, who has won the last two Minnesota Senior Open golf championships (66-66 this spring at Keller), still drives the ball 280 yards.

>> New Gophers men’s basketball coach Niko Medved drew a large Twin Cities Dunkers audience for a recent appearance at Interlachen Country Club, where he spoke of the challenges of building a nearly brand new team quickly. To his credit, he did not advocate for a new arena. Medved appears July 23 at the Capital Club at Mendakota Country Club.

>> Just an hour after congratulating pal Mike Guentzel on a hole-in-one at StoneRidge Golf Club the other day, St. Paul insurance executive John Regal knocked an eight-iron 155 yards into the cup at StoneRidge’s No. 7 for an ace.

>> That was former Gopher-Fighting Saint Pat Westrum, a 20-handicapper, scoring a second-career ace on the 158-yard No. 7 hole at Emerald Greens with a five-iron.

>> Ex-Gopher Dawson Garcia’s free agent signing with the NBA Pistons unites the 6-11 Prior Lake grad with coach B.J. Bickerstaff, who is loyal to his alma mater.

>> Representing the Gophers at Big Ten football media day on July 23 in Las Vegas will be Koi Perich, Anthony Smith and Darius Taylor.