Joe Mauer’s journey to Baseball Hall of Fame doorstep one for St. Paul’s ages

The expectations were lofty for Joe Mauer when he was a three-sport wunderkind at Cretin-Derham Hall, often evoking memories of St. Paul legends Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield.

He wasn’t just the best baseball player in the state. This was a generational athlete.

Mauer was the No. 1 pick by the Twins in the 2001 major league draft. He was the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country, turning down a commitment to play for Bobby Bowden’s Florida State team. He was a high school basketball standout who averaged 20 points per game in his senior season.

Somehow, he lived up to all the hype, expectations and immense pressures. On Tuesday, Mauer could join Molitor and Winfield — public polling suggests it’s likely — on an exclusive list in Cooperstown, N.Y., as first-ballot Hall of Famers.

The kid who was a natural at every major sport he played proved to be one of the best catchers in baseball history.

“Baseball has always been my first love,” Mauer said after he signed his rookie contract with the Twins. “I’ve been playing it ever since I could walk. My heart has always been with baseball.”

From St. Paul to Cooperstown — it’s been done before. Winfield was enshrined in 2001. Molitor in 2004. Jack Morris came next in 2018. But whether the phone rings Tuesday, or some Tuesday in the future, no one’s path from St. Paul to baseball stardom was quite like Mauer’s.

Mauer was arguably the best high school athlete to come out of Minnesota. He threw for 3,016 yards and 41 touchdowns during his senior football season. He was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year and USA Today’s Offensive Player of the Year.

He helped Cretin-Derham Hall to the state tournament in basketball, a sharpshooter behind the three-point line.

In a family filled with athletes, Joe always stood out. There is a picture of Mauer, his diaper partially showing, on a trip to the batting cage with his two older brothers. Mauer’s mother, Teresa, said he was booted from a tee-ball league in St. Paul at 4 years old because he hit the ball too hard.

He famously struck out only once in high school. The pitcher, Elk River’s Paul Feiner, delivered baseballs to Mauer’s children in a pregame ceremony when Mauer was inducted into the Twins’ Hall of Fame last summer.

During Mauer’s senior season in baseball, with scouts watching his every move, he hit .605 with 15 homers and 53 RBI to lead his school to a state championship. He homered in seven consecutive games, two shy of a national record.

The Twins, in awe of Mauer’s talent and poise, took him over Southern California pitcher Mark Prior in the MLB draft in a decision that was debated for years.

High school catchers usually advance at a slow pace in the minor leagues because of the demands of the position and the learning curve. Not Mauer.

He required 277 minor league games before he made his major league debut.

“About the only young hitter I’ve seen the past few years that has the type of swing that doesn’t have to change would be Mauer’s,” Tom Kelly said in Mauer’s first year in the organization. “He doesn’t have an aluminum bat swing. There’s not a lot of extra stuff there.”

Mauer reported to Elizabethton, Tenn., for rookie ball after he signed his rookie deal and he was teammates with his brother, Jake, a 23rd-round pick out of St. Thomas in the same draft class. It was the first time the two brothers shared a room since they were 10 years old, and they continued to live together in Fort Myers, Fla., in the winter.

“I can see myself kind of turning into Dad,” Jake Mauer said during their first offseason together. “During batting practice, I was just trying to throw to a spot where he needs work, keep throwing there to make him improve. I could hear myself making comments that Dad would say.”

Even as a No. 1 pick, Mauer’s rise through the minor leagues was incredible. He was Baseball America’s top prospect, batting a .330 combined at each level. He impressed during his stints in major league camp at spring training. His Class AA manager raved about his impact on the team’s pitching staff at 20 years old.

“I’ve had guys make the statement, ‘I wish I had the approach now that he has at 18,’ ” then-Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said during Mauer’s first major league spring training. “That’s from some of our veteran hitters. That’s a statement for you.”

The Twins cleared the path for Mauer to be their starting catcher in 2004 when they traded starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

The anticipation for Mauer’s major league debut was unique, perhaps unrivaled since Rod Carew 37 years earlier. The list of 20-year-old rookie catchers was tiny and included names like Johnny Bench and Ivan Rodriguez.

The hometown kid had the chance to put his stamp on the team. Mauer was given No. 7 in spring training.

“It’s better than the No. 71 they used to give me,” he said.

It didn’t start the way anyone hoped. Two games into Mauer’s big league career, he tore a ligament in his left knee sliding for a foul ball. He returned to play 33 more games in his rookie year, but his knee swelled up in the summer and raised questions about whether Mauer, who was the league’s tallest everyday catcher, should remain behind the plate. On a rookie dress-up day for a late-summer road trip, Mauer was outfitted with a hospital gown.

Mauer’s knee turned out to be fine, and the Twins had their franchise catcher. He hit .294 in his first full MLB season before he earned his first All-Star nod in 2006 and his first batting title (.347).

“When I told you I wasn’t thinking about the batting title?” Mauer said afterward. “I was lying.”

If there was one common complaint about Mauer, it was his lack of power. In his first five years in the big leagues, he had only one season with more than 10 home runs. He won a second batting title in 2008 (.328), then produced the best offensive season of his career in 2009: .365 batting average, 28 home runs, 96 RBI and a .444 on-base percentage. His career-best season earned him the AL MVP award.

“It’s hard to find anyone that means as much to their team as he does,” teammate Justin Morneau said. “I think it gets taken for granted a lot of times.”

Mauer, following his MVP season, was rewarded with an eight-year, $184 million contract extension.

Mauer didn’t win another batting title after his 2009 MVP, but he was selected to three more All-Star teams, received MVP votes in two more seasons, earned two Silver Sluggers and won a Gold Glove.

Injuries, too, crept in more often. He underwent knee surgery after the 2010 season. and he spent two months on the injured list in 2011 with the infamous term, bilateral leg weakness. His 2011 season ended early because of pneumonia.

Mauer split time between catcher, first base and designated hitter in 2012 and ‘13, and the results were solid. His power numbers were down at Target Field, but he batted .319 in 2012 and .324 in 2013.

On Aug. 20, 2013, Mauer was placed on the concussion list after he was jarred by a foul tip and reported feeling dizzy. He never started another game at catcher.

“It’s one of the tougher decisions I’ve had to make, but also probably one of the easiest,” Mauer said afterward. “I really tried to do everything I could to get back out on the field. But it wasn’t safe, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

The move to first base kept Mauer on the field more often — he averaged 136 games per year — but he never rekindled his offensive brilliance. Across his last five seasons, he hit .278 with 38 homers and 289 RBI in 680 games.

As he became the veteran on the roster, he was the master of ceremonies following Twins wins. He would hand out game balls after each victory, usually to a player who did something small that contributed to the victory.

During his last game of the 2018 season, when many suspected he was contemplating retirement, he made one final appearance at catcher.

“I’ve got a lot of emotions going on today, and I don’t think it could have gone any better,” Mauer, who received an ovation that lasted nearly five minutes, wrote in a farewell letter. “You guys saw how important that moment was to me, just to have a chance to put the gear back on.”

About a month after Mauer’s touching farewell at Target Field, the kid from St. Paul who lived up to the wildest dreams, announced his retirement.

“As I stood on the field in my catcher’s gear,” Mauer wrote, “something I never thought would be possible again, I realized that this is how I wanted to finish my career.”