Joe Mauer: A Hall of Famer Through the Eyes of a First-Timer

[Giles Ferrell]

So many of us grew up into baseball with Joe Mauer as our lodestar. This is one story of thousands, illustrative of all of them but no more or less special than all of them. The special one is Mauer.

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

At 34, I can say I have followed baseball easily for over 25 years. I have watched and attended many fun things in that time, but never have I been able to say I watched a hall of fame baseball player from the start to end of a career. Sure, I followed some players that went on to the hall. But nothing where I can say I watched a significant amount of a hall of fame player's career in its entirety. That is until Twins legend Joe Mauer got his call to the hall in January.

As a Minnesotan, I am not without one of those "yeah I know someone who knows Joe" stories. I won't bore you with that, but that was the reason I took an interest in Mauer when he made his debut in 2004. I was told of a family connection, and I hoped he did alright for my favorite club as he was filling the shoes of a player I liked - AJ Pierzynski. I had also met him at a benefit the winter before, but I was just a dumb kid so I had no idea the gravity of who I was meeting.

Then came the debut. I watched on my little 16" TV, on broadcast television mind you,(imagine that happening in this day in age), and can remember that game clear as day. In his first at bat, the crowd booed as he was walked by CC Sabathia on four pitches. The camera kept cutting back to Joe's parents in between pitches. But again, not one swing in that at-bat, and a patented walk came as he never offered at a pitch out of the zone. 

After a strikeout and another walk - the walk actually started a three-run Twins rally in the eighth - Mauer laced that first major league hit back up the middle. Another staple through his career. He would single in the 11th before Shannon Stewart walked off the game with a home run to send the Twins home winners and this dumb kid to bed (school night)!

Thinking on that night now, twenty years later, Mauer gave us what we were going to get for 15 seasons: plate discipline and copious amounts of base hits. Rare finds for catchers. 

But what Mauer would go on to do in his career was even more rare. He would win three batting titles, something no catcher in American League history had done before. The first of those titles came in 2006, a season that was laced in magic all unto itself. 

Every time Mauer came to the plate, it felt like he was going to get a hit. He ended up hitting .347 that season, four points ahead of Derek Jeter. The shining star of that season (ok, there were many but this one comes to mind), came on a June night when Mauer went 5-5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle of a series sweep. He actually went 11-13 in that three game sweep over Los Angeles, to add to his legend of simply never being able to get out. I can still see some fans in that stands after that fifth hit bowing to Mauer. 

In the season's final game (again, memorable unto itself), Mauer received a well-deserved standing ovation from the 30.000+ in the Dome that day. Spine tingling for this fan as the history of the moment was not lost. 

Then, 2009, you just had to be there. After missing the first month of the season, Mauer announced his presence with a home run to left in his first at bat back. It would be the first of 28 that season, in which he would go on to win the MVP award. And a batting title again, but you knew that. He flirted with .400 that summer, finishing with a .365 average. Rod Carew must have enjoyed the spotlight that summer as we were reminded time and time again of the last player to flirt with that number. 

Oh and don't forget, Mauer was no slouch behind the plate either. Just ask Brett Gardner. 

The Twins christened a new ballpark the next season, and as a direct result, gave Mauer an eye-watering 8 year, $184 million contract extension. We will return to this later, but at the time pen met paper, it was a joyous time in the upper midwest. The Twins were no longer a farm team to the rich clubs. They could afford to keep their talented players.

A televised news conference in Fort Myers (I have this on a burned DVD somewhere because i had nothing better to do) at the end of the spring cemented the fact Mauer was going to play here a long time. The last Twin to do something like that was another hall of famer, Kirby Puckett, signing a then record deal in 1993 to remain a Twin.

Joe was the face of the Twins. He was the face of video games. He was the face of Minnesota. Everything was great.

Everything was great until it suddenly wasn't.

No one cares to remember, but the bilateral leg weakness incident of 2011 was forgotten as Joe batted .321 between 2012 and 2013 (all-star selections both years too). He never found that power from 2009, but that barely mattered as the Twins themselves slipped into obscurity, losing 90+ games annually. Mauer still hit at his career marks in those years from behind the plate. 

Foul ball off the mask, concussion symptoms, et. al. It went south for Joe over the next few seasons. In 2014, the Twins were the host of the All-Star Game. Joe was supposed to be the unofficial host of the week, but concussion symptoms moved Mauer to first base and impacted his hitting. And as the Twins continued to lose for other reasons, Mauer became the scapegoat with some of the local media. 

As a fan, it was frustrating to watch the Twins lose to no end, with their best player a shell of himself (this is not a complaint at Joe, but merely a complaint at the injury which impacted his ability to do his job properly). If I recall right, Mauer later admitted the 2014 & 15 seasons had him still battling those symptoms. 

There's so little we know still about injuries to the brain. But as the warrior he was, Joe wanted to carry on playing. Again, dont tell that to some of the local media though. Joe was their punching bag despite the woes of the front office in every other area of the ballclub. 

Let us also not forget, Mauer turned into a pretty sharp fielding first baseman. He should have had another gold glove in those last years at first, but when your team loses 90 games on average, the voters tend to look away. 

Mauer looked more himself in the final few seasons. The 2018 season, the final year of his contract that he signed in 2010, never really gave rumblings of what would come next season for Joe. He just went on and played the season with mum's the word about his future.

After that final game of the year in which he put on the catcher's gear for a lone pitch in the ninth, there was not a doubt in my mind this was it for him. It was a brisk sunny day in Minneapolis. The Twins were toast and an afterthought in the local sports scene as the Vikings were underway with their 2018 campaign. 

A trademark opposite field double in the middle innings preceded the memorable ninth inning where Joe was the Twins catcher once again.

When Mauer emerged from the dugout with the gear on, I went numb in that moment (not from the cold). While standing in the shade at Target Field I had to put on sunglasses so my then-girlfriend, now wife, would not see the tears stream down my face. Joe waved to the crowd after one pitch, fighting back tears himself. We later saw the full emotions from him as he was putting the gear on in the clubhouse in an iconic Brace Hemmelgarn photo. 

He left the field, and left the game for good. After 15 years, it was a somber feeling knowing that Joe Mauer would not put on a Twins uniform again. 

I was there when the Twins retired number seven. I was there a few years later when the team put him in their hall of fame (why wasn't this all done at once?). I watched with my baby girl on an ipad in her hospital room as Joe got his hall of fame call in January. And on Sunday, i'll be parked in front of my television watching him take his place among the all-time greats in Cooperstown (I wanted to attend this in person, but a premature newborn in ICU for two months this year takes a toll on one's wallet to make this trek). 

Someday, I'll tell my child(ren) about Joe Mauer. Whether they want to hear it or not, I'll go down memory lane with them just as I did here. I'll probably tear up thinking on these memories, just as I did writing them here. 

It was, plain and simple, a joy to watch play Joe Mauer play baseball for the Minnesota Twins. He was the first hall of famer I truly got to watch from start to finish. Should he be the only one I get to have this baseball privilege with, then no one is more deserving.

Thank you, Joe. 

 

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[myjah]

YEAH JOE!

[strumdatjag]

The speech and appearances on MLB Network were much better than the old “ya-know” filled post-game interviews of the past.  Looks like it was well-prepared, practiced and heart-felt. Good work Joe - great career. 

[NYCTK]

I was lucky enough to be able to travel up to Cooperstown from my home in NYC.

It's hard to overstate just how important that childhood favorite player is. I couldn't miss the once in a lifetime opportunity. 

[myjah]

On 7/22/2024 at 11:55 AM, strumdatjag said:

The speech and appearances on MLB Network were much better than the old “ya-know” filled post-game interviews of the past.  Looks like it was well-prepared, practiced and heart-felt. Good work Joe - great career. 

You could tell how honored he felt to be there, and by the amount of fans who made it despite the travel issues on Friday.