In just more than a week, Joe Mauer will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, so the former Twins catcher and first baseman has been in a reflective mood.
His speech had to be finished before next Sunday’s 12:30 a.m. CDT induction ceremony, so he was tasked with summing up an 15-year major league career — all with the Minnesota Twins — and thanking the people who helped make it possible in his allotted 10 minutes.
“You get emotional, because like I said, it doesn’t just happen. You can’t do it all by yourself. A lot of people have helped me along the way, and I hope I can articulate that in the time I have to make the speech. … It’s hard to sum it up, but I’m going to do the best I can.”
Those interested in everything Mauer has to say will have to wait for next Sunday. The induction ceremony — also including Todd Helton and Adrian Beltre — will be televised by MLB Network. And if you happen to be in Cooperstown, N.Y., the event is free to the public.
But Mauer, 41, did offer a small sneak peek to reporters during a teleconference with reporters Friday evening facilitated by the hall. Asked about Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Jack Morris, fellow St. Paulites he will be joining in the hall of fame, he said, “I’ll be mentioning them in my speech. I’ll give you a little inside info here.”
Consider it scooped.
Among midsize cities, only Mobile, Ala., has more hall of fame players: Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Satchel Paige, Ozzie Smith and Billy Williams. Remarkably, the loop of houses where Winfield, Molitor, Morris and Mauer all grew up west of downtown is about 3½ miles. Winfield attended Central High, Morris Highland Park and Molitor and Mauer Cretin-Derham Hall.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Mauer said.
And it’s a club that Mauer, like many of those who grew up and live east of the Mississippi River, was proud of before he got the call himself.
“I’m a St. Paul guy, and you know St. Paul is a very proud city and proud town — especially of our baseball history,” Mauer said.
That history includes groundbreaking women such as Toni Stone and Ila Borders, the all-Black St. Paul Gophers, and the Saints, whether it was the American Association team that was the farm club, at different times, of the Chicago White Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers — and fielded players such as Ray Campanella and Don Zimmer, the independent team that broke all the rules from 1993-2022, or the current Class AAA team of the Twins organization.
“When I was a kid, I dreamed about being in the big leagues. They were some of my favorite players,” Mauer said of his future hall of fame peers. “And as a kid, it gave me kind of a look to say, ‘This is possible.’
“Minnesota is not, maybe, the first state to come to mind when you think of big league ballplayers, but we’ve had some really good ones, really good players and really good people. And as a kid, watching three guys play at the highest level — league championships and doing some special things in the game — made me dream and made me think, ‘This could become a reality.’ ”
Mauer retired after the 2018 season, finishing the game as the Twins’ catcher, a position he hadn’t played since 2013 because of serious concussion issues. He finished with a .306 batting average and 2,123 hits. He won the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award, was a six-time AL all-star and won three Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.
Winfield (2001), Molitor (2005) and Mauer (2024) were first-ballot inductees. Morris was chosen by the veterans committee in 2018.
“Being mentioned with those guys, to be in that group, it’s pretty special,” Mauer said. “And hopefully that can help some young ballplayer in Minnesota know that, as well. A lot of things have to go right, but it definitely can happen.”
“From St. Paul to the Hall”: the Pioneer Press chronicled the careers of Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Joe Mauer, and we’ve compiled the best of our coverage into a new hardcover book that celebrates the legendary baseball legacy of Minnesota’s capital city. Order your copy of “From St. Paul to the Hall.”
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