Twins Greatest All-Stars Countdown: #4 Joe Mauer

[John Bonnes]

[CENTER][attachment=6983:3699.attach][I]The Twins Greatest All-Stars Countdown is sponsored by Wendy's[/I][/CENTER]

Prior to being named to the American League's All-Star squad last month, Joe Mauer would not have ranked above our #5 choice, Tony Oliva, on this list. It's still a close call. Mauer is tied with Oliva with six All-Star game apperances and if Mauer gets a hit, he'll tie Tony O in that category, too.

Mauer gets the edge because he accumulated a RBI (on a two-out hit, no less) and a run, neither of which Oliva was able to do. Mauer also has his four hits in just 11 at-bats while Oliva had nineteen to get his five hits. But the separator is games started: Mauer has started four game while Oliva only started three.

Those four games ties Mauer with the other Twins catcher on this list, Earl Battey, but that's a little misleading. Battey started two of those All-Star games [I]in the same year[/I]. From 1959 to 1962, MLB held two All-Star games, adding a second one to raise money for the players' pension fund. Battey also didn't have particularly productive All-Star Game appearances...

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