What I’ll remember about Joe Mauer, Hall of Fame-worthy Twins star

Joe Mauer will be in the Hall of Fame. Maybe he’ll be elected on Tuesday. Maybe it will take another year. Regardless of the timing, he’ll get in because he’s a historically great all-around catcher. That is the alpha and omega of any debate over his candidacy.

Mauer being elected will mark the latest glory day for Minnesota, the Twins and St. Paul.

There isn’t much left to say about him; there is a lot to remember. Here are some of my observations and recollections after 25 years of orbiting a lifelong Minnesota star:

1. Don’t allow anything — not “bilateral leg weakness,” other mysterious ailments, a career-altering concussion or a lack of home-run power — to obscure the heart of this story.

Mauer grew up in St. Paul as a Twins fan. He became the best high school athlete in the country and was drafted No. 1 by his hometown team. He became the first catcher to win an American League batting title and did so three times. He won an MVP award. He never played for another franchise. He became a Hall of Famer.

Wash away whatever sour taste you think you may have regarding Mauer’s career. His story is about as good as it gets.

2. The Twins lost the opener of their 2009 playoff series against the Yankees. Game 2, in Yankee Stadium, was tied, 3-3, in the 11th. Mauer led off with a sure double down the left field line. Umpire Phil Cuzzi called it foul. Mauer would single but the inning fell apart, the Yankees won and the Twins’ long playoff losing streak was on its way to becoming one of the most embarrassing streaks in modern sports history.

What would have happened had the ball been called fair? Maybe the Twins would have won a playoff game, or even the series. And maybe Mauer would have earned a better reputation as a postseason hitter.

3. Along with being the first pick in the baseball draft out of high school, Mauer was the top quarterback recruit in the country and could have signed with Florida State. He was also an excellent basketball player.

One of his friends told me about Mauer’s Cretin-Derham Hall team preparing to play a prep basketball powerhouse. Mauer and his buddies casually took shots during warmups while their opponents put on a pregame routine worthy of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Then Mauer and his buddies dismantled the powerhouse. With a typical Mauer shrug.

4. My favorite Mauer youth story: He would catch during a youth or travel baseball game, and then Joe and his family would head home for a postgame meal and instruction. Essentially, his family would gather around him and yell at him about every mistake he had made that day. How could you not block that wild pitch? Why would you call a curveball against a hitter who can’t catch up to the fastball?

Joe would chew his food, nod a lot and do a lot of digesting.

5. I spent a few days with Mauer and his brother Jake at their first Twins spring training. They were living in an apartment on a golf course near the Twins ballpark.

Joe would get up early, work out, do whatever maintenance his body required, go through the daily spring training schedule and then head home with Jake.

Even barely out of his teens, with money in the bank, Joe Mauer lived one of the most boring lifestyles of any great athlete I’ve ever encountered.

That’s a compliment. He dedicated himself to playing baseball and spending time with established friends and family, and that’s about it.

6. Mauer arrived well ahead of time for his first spring training, and he and incumbent Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski wound up taking batting practice together at the minor league facility in Fort Myers, Fla.

Pierzynski knew that eventually Mauer would displace him. After one session with Mauer, Pierzynski told me, “He’s just a kid, but he does everything with his swing that I’ve been trying to do my entire life. It’s astonishing to see up close.”

7. I was in Detroit with the Twins during Mauer’s 2009 MVP season. A large group of reporters surrounded him to talk about his exploits. He was polite and reserved.

After the group left, Mauer and I talked. It was the longest off-the-record conversation between us in all the years I covered him. The subject matter will remain off the record, but what Mauer displayed in that conversation was an incredibly in-depth understanding of the game. He, like Tom Kelly and Paul Molitor, noticed everything that happened on the field, whether it was the left fielder shifting just before the pitch was thrown or a pitcher giving away his intentions with a flexed forearm.

Mauer was a baseball genius, and it was typical of him that he preferred to keep that to himself.