Joe Mauer is a three-time batting champion, so he wasn't often fooled by a pitch. But he never saw this one coming.
Cretin-Derham Hall High School, Mauer's alma mater in St. Paul, invited him to speak to a student assembly Tuesday in the new athletic center that bears his name, "kind of like a Twins Caravan event — just answer some questions here and there, shake some hands," Mauer said.
When he showed up at Joe Mauer Field House, however, he found his extended family and Twins owner Jim Pohlad among the student body, too, and together they watched a videotape of Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton formally declaring Tuesday as Joe Mauer Day in his home state.
Then Twins Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven, Tom Kelly, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek took the stage in unison, with Hrbek making a surprise announcement: Mauer's No. 7 will soon join their own numbers on the left-field facade at Target Field, retired forever at a ceremony next summer. When Mauer finally took the podium, his response was vintage Mauer: "Wow."
"I'm still kind of in shock," Mauer said of the new honor, which puts his 7 in the company of that foursome, along with Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Jackie Robinson, among numbers retired by the Twins. "… Now when I take my kids to the game, and see No. 7 up there, it'll probably put a smile on my face every time I see that."
A lot of people were smiling Tuesday at the symmetry of receiving the team's highest honor just a few feet from the spot where he signed his first professional contract with the Twins, back in 2001.
"It's an amazing thing, that Joe's able to start his career in this building, basically, and to be able to come back and have his number retired," said Twins owner Jim Pohlad, whose father, Carl, signed Mauer after the Twins made him the No. 1 pick in the draft. "It's a huge commemoration of his career."
The Twins wasted no time in bestowing the honor, Pohlad said, making the announcement barely more than a month after Mauer's retirement. But they wanted to surprise Mauer with the inevitable decision, "and I think we did that. … He seems very happy."