Cooperstown Call Affirms Link Between Two Twins Legends

Joe Mauer grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School. He was as decorated as they come in high school, and had similar abilities to fellow St. Paul native Dave Winfield, dominating in baseball, football, and basketball. The Twins took Mauer with the first overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft, and while Mark Prior was there, Mauer was the correct choice.

When the dust settled on his career, plenty was made about whether he would ultimately wind up in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at all. He had suffered myriad injuries, and despite being among the best to ever catch at the highest level, his time behind the plate was cut short due to concussions.

Mauer and Kirby Puckett were each the quintessential, iconic Twins player of a generation. The former humbly received many individual accolades, while the latter brought home the rings. Because Mauer's clubs never managed what Puckett's did, many Twins fans were reluctant to embrace Mauer as a hero on the same level as Puckett--despite the hometown hero factor, and despite Mauer's multifaceted greatness. The two seem so different that letting one give way to the other felt wrong.

The parallels between the two run deep, though. Sure, Puckett was a Chicago kid, but his new state quickly adopted him. The franchise came up with some extra dollars to sign him during the now-defunct January draft. He was just a 22-year-old and spent time at Elizabethton, Visalia, and briefly visited Toledo before debuting as a 24-year-old, in 1984.

Baseball was a different sport back then. Puckett finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, trailing only Alvin Davis and Mark Langston, despite posting a lackluster .655 OPS. He didn’t replicate his .296 average in year two, but playing 161 games with a .288/.330/.385 slash line, he earned MVP votes for the first time in his career. Exploding with 31 homers in year three and growing into that stocky figure, Puckett was named to his first of 10 All-Star Games and grabbed his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards.

Similarly to Puckett, Mauer experienced something of a slow burn. Debuting three years younger at 21 years old, it was only two years later that the legend started to truly bloom. His .347 average won the American League batting title, and like Puckett before him, Mauer finished sixth in MVP voting, while earning All-Star and Silver Slugger nods.

It was the highs and lows that may have separated Puckett and Mauer the most. In just his fourth major-league season, Puckett led the Twins to the franchise's first World Series. He led the league in hits that year, and nearly captured an MVP award, finishing third in the voting. Just four short years later, Puckett and the Twins would do it again. This time he made "the catch" and was named the ALCS MVP. After four more years of star production, it all ended for the outfielder. He'd had to change positions because of his own shortcomings, but he didn't get a chance to prove that he could still be a solid player after that transition.

On the flip side, Mauer's individual awards stacked up, but team success--in October, anyway, where Puckett had conditioned fans to set their sights--was elusive. Playing in 10 postseason games, Mauer's teams never won one, and any thought of a World Series was well into fantasy land. Mauer finished with just one extra-base hit and posted a .641 OPS. Without an abrupt end to his career, Mauer moved off of his primary position for reasons beyond his control, but then played 680 games at first base. The position didn't play to his strengths, and his diminished level of production didn't generate the accolades.

Although how Puckett and Mauer got to the finish line was different, the overall production adds up similarly. Puckett was slightly more of a power producer, while Mauer possessed an otherworldly ability to find open places on the field. They both played strong defense. Unfortunately, both also saw their careers cut short due to circumstances beyond their control, although one was more generously understood than the other.

The year Mauer was drafted is when both Puckett and Winfield found themselves enshrined in Cooperstown. That could have been foreshadowing no one saw coming. Puckett and Mauer have been connected from the start, and they again cross paths at the end. The newest Minnesota member of the Hall of Fame becomes just the third-ever first-ballot inductee from the organization, and joins Puckett as the only other to play their entire career for the Twins.

Kirby closed the chapter on his baseball life in 2001, exactly when Joe began writing his. When asked about who his favorite Twins was as he signed off of his post-induction call with MLB Network, Mauer averred that it was Puckett. Just like the legend he watched growing up, he's now received the highest form of validation the game can offer.