JUPITER, Fla. • When the 2020 season is over, representing the final year of his contract, Yadier Molina will have played for the Cardinals, and only the Cardinals, longer than anybody but one player.

“Stan?” said Molina, who probably knew that answer. Along the way this year, Molina will pass Hall of Famer Bob Gibson at 16 years and change. Only Hall of Famer Stanley Frank Musial will be ahead of Molina at 22 seasons.

“It’s just a great honor to be mentioned with those guys,” he said.

Molina, recovering from left knee surgery, caught for the first time in an exhibition game on Saturday, handling longtime batterymate Adam Wainwright for four innings and Alex Reyes for one. Molina flied out twice in two at-bats.

In a wide-ranging 30-minute interview this past week, the nine-time Cardinals Gold Glove and All-Star catcher talked about his past, present and future and an unusual individual goal he has.

HUMMEL: You’ve been to four World Series, besides your nine All-Star Games and nine Gold Gloves. Is there still one individual goal you would like to accomplish?

MOLINA: (Pause) Whew. I would love to win a batting title. That would be amazing. Can I do it? Yes, I can. No doubt. You put one goal out there. That makes you better. People are going to laugh at that, like ‘Oh, look at Yadier. Yadi’s crazy, thinking about the batting title.’ It’s personal.

You always put some goal in your mind and you try to reach it. If you don’t reach it, that’s fine because you at least had something to look forward to.

To hit .360, .350, you have to have velocity. You have to have speed. But I can hit .300, 315. I’ve done it before. So why not?

(Editor’s note: Molina finished fourth in the batting race in both 2012 and 2013, hitting .315 and .319, respectively).

HUMMEL: You’ll have to do this without many, if any, infield singles because you’re slow. Will you bunt?

MOLINA: No cheap hits for me. The last surprise bunt that I tried was in ’05 in Cincinnati. I told ‘Cheo (third-base coach Jose Oquendo) that I was going to do it. He said, ‘Let me see it.’ I popped it up to the pitcher. I said, ‘This is the last time.’ And that was the last time. Only bunting for sacrifice. No surprise.

But when you try to prove people wrong, anything can happen. You keep working and working and try to shut them up. Some people still don’t think that way, that I can hit. That mentality that I have every year — that I have to prove myself to everyone that I’m a good player — that’s the thing that keeps me going. That’s my motivation.

HUMMEL: Are you as good as ever?

MOLINA: I feel young. I know I’m 36, but I feel I can play more years. Right now, the game is going younger and you’ve got to understand that. I’ve got to go out and prove to the people that I’m still at that same level.

I’m always going to play with chips on my shoulder — with something to prove. In this case (laughing) … both shoulders. When you get to this age, people treat you with respect but at the same time they don’t treat you with respect. They treat you with respect because of the many years that you’ve had. But they think your game is going to go down.

But I feel more like a player now. Back then, I had talent. Now, I’ve got talent and my mind. People say my game is going down but I’ve got both.

I don’t run — since I was born. People have got to understand that when you spend 16 years catching and you catch 120 or 125 or 130 games a year, sometimes it’s hard to move.

Obviously, you expect me to run hard. But you’ve got to understand the game, brother. It’s not easy. You’ve taken foul balls off your knees and you’re grinding. People think my game is going down because I didn’t run (to first) once.

I know my speed. I need to take care of myself. If I hit a ball in the hole, I’m going to be running. If I hit a chopper to second, why do you want me to run 100 percent? Why? There’s a reason why.

I’m not going to beat it. If I’ve got the speed of (Harrison) Bader, maybe I can beat it. But he’s fast. I’m slow. What do you expect?

HUMMEL: So you’re conserving energy?

MOLINA: That’s being smart. That doesn’t mean I’m not hustling or that I’m lazy. Am I a lazy guy when I’m catching 130 games? That’s not (being) lazy. That’s being a smart guy — how to take care of your body. That’s what I didn’t understand early in my career. But now I’ve got my mind and my talent.

HUMMEL: You have talked about playing one more year with the Cardinals after this contract is over. Do you still feel that way?

MOLINA: Yes. I feel I can do the job. But I want to retire when I’m at a good level. I don’t want to retire when I hit .190 and I can’t throw anybody out at second. I don’t want to retire that way.

I see a couple of guys do that. I won’t name them because I’ve got respect for them. But they want to play more, more and more because of the years. They say, ‘I played 20 years or 19 years,’ but where were the last few years? You hit .190 and you only played 70 games. You count that?

If I can’t catch, I’ll retire. I don’t need the money. I don’t need the years. I don’t need anybody to tell me, ‘Wow, you played 20 years.’ If I play 12 years, I play them like a professional. It’s not like I played 12, but I only really played nine because my last three years were bad, bad, bad.

I don’t want to be retiring catching 50 games. If they’re paying me $20 million, I don’t want to catch just 50 games.

HUMMEL: When you signed with the Cardinals in 2001, did you have any idea you would play this long? Or be this good?

MOLINA: To be honest, I didn’t have any idea it was going to be this long. To be this good? Honestly, I always was trusting in myself. I know people didn’t believe in me. I did believe in me. A couple of people believed. Not a bunch. But I knew I was going to be good. My first time in this clubhouse was in ’02. I don’t know what the plan was for me then. But I guarantee you I opened some eyes that spring. I got the opportunity to learn from some good people and I learned the right way to play this game.

HUMMEL: Many people have said you would be an excellent manager when you’re through playing. And you managed a Puerto Rican youth team last year. Would you want to manage in the majors?

MOLINA: Not really. Can I do the job? Yes, I know this game. But I don’t want it. I think, first of all, St. Louis has a great manager. Shildty is doing everything the right way. He’s doing things the right way. Hopefully, he stays here for many, many years. Secondly, I want to enjoy my family and watch my son play. I’ll do that (manage) in Puerto Rico. But not for six or seven months. A couple of months. A couple of weeks. Six months? That’s too long.

And I hate to lose. This game is about that. You need patient people. I don’t think I have the patience.

HUMMEL: Would you have trouble dealing with the media before and after every game?

MOLINA: That would be hard. But not hard for me (he laughs). Hard for you guys. It’s going to be hard for you to deal with me every day. You don’t want that.

HUMMEL: You’ve streamlined your body like you did a couple of years ago, when people thought you had lost too much weight. Why did you go back to where you were a couple of years ago?

MOLINA: It’s about learning your body and learning which way you can play better. To be a catcher, you want to be lighter because I want to play more games but at the same time I wasn’t helping my team from the offensive part. If I can put on more weight, I can do both.

But right now, I want to start a little lighter because during the season, I always gain weight. Right now, if I’m lighter, I might catch good but I don’t feel strong enough, like throwing the ball or hitting. I just don’t feel comfortable. You’re going to find guys like that and they play the best heavy. Look at (Pablo) Sandoval.

But if you made those guys lose too much weight, they’re not going to be helping the team. Their average is going to go down. Their arm is going to be weak. That’s what happened to me when I was lighter. My arm was weak. I didn’t hit for power. I looked good, but it wasn’t me.

I have to put on weight if I’m going to be at the top of my game.

HUMMEL: How do you like Mike Shildt as your manager?

MOLINA: He’s a baseball guy. The communication part is awesome. He’s not afraid. He will tell you the truth, right in your face, whether you like it not.

We’re grown men. That’s what we need to hear. Sometimes we get many pats on the back and they say, ‘OK, you’re going to be fine.’ But if you don’t do your job, you’re not going to be fine.

The message was: ‘We don’t want you here if you’re not thinking about the team and you’re thinking about yourself.’ That’s the honesty we need here.

He’s got my respect. He’s got everybody’s respect here.

HUMMEL: Did you enjoy playing for Mike Matheny?

MOLINA: Yeah. But the relationship was different. I don’t know. Did I enjoy it? Yes, we had some good years early. We made it to the World Series and a couple of playoff rounds.

I don’t want to talk about it. But I don’t blame the coaches for what happened last year. I don’t blame the manager. I blame ourselves. We didn’t play good baseball. If we played good baseball, Mike Matheny still would be here. I blame myself. I blame all the players because the front office put a really good team together. Every year, they put together a really good team and it depends on us, whether we make it or not.

Last year, we were a bad defensive team. I hate to see a manager pay the price because of us. As a player, you feel terrible. You feel awful because you don’t want to see that, because Mike is a great guy.

And those guys lose their jobs because we didn’t pull our part ... that’s unfair. But that’s part of the game. You turn the page and move on.

HUMMEL: This is the most questions I’ve ever asked you at one sitting and might be all I need to ask you all year.

MOLINA: (Smiling). I doubt that. I seriously doubt that.

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