A tip for Joe Mauer: Get ready for your next career as a Hall of Famer

Every July, baseball’s legends gather in Cooperstown, N.Y., for Hall of Fame induction weekend. One of the annual events is a tournament at the Leatherstocking Golf Club, part of which separates the Otesaga Resort Hotel from Otsego Lake.

It was during one of these tournaments that Paul Molitor, a few years after he had been inducted in 2004, was in the same grouping as the great Yogi Berra. On one hole, Molitor’s long birdie attempt fell about 10 feet short of the cup. Berra provided his instant analysis for Molitor.

“If you would have hit it harder, you would have missed it shorter,” Berra said.

Even in retirement, the Yogi-isms flowed.

Memories like these await Joe Mauer, the newest legend of the game. He’s the first player born in the 1980s to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, part of a class that includes Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland. Mauer will battle emotions as his plaque is unveiled and as he delivers his induction speech. He then will begin a new chapter of his life. The great Sandy Koufax is in his 52nd year of being a Hall of Famer. So, yes, it can be another long life.

Mauer will make new friends, hear new stories and leave with more memories every summer he travels to the quaint town that overflows with baseball fans once a year. Here are some examples.

This will be my fourth trip to Cooperstown. The first was in 2014 as president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, tasked with introducing Roger Angell, who was being honored for his baseball writing career. That allowed me to stay at the Otesaga with the rest of the Hall of Famers. I was on the same floor as Goose Gossage, Frank Thomas, Jerry Reinsdorf and others.

I ran into Thomas and his family at the elevator the morning of the ceremony. “Did you time your speech,” I asked. “Yup, 12 minutes exactly,” he said. I asked if he factored in time for tears, to which his wife and family laughed. “I’m not going to cry,” he said.

Thomas couldn’t complete his first sentence without getting emotional. This was mentioned a few hours later at the hotel while Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine listened in. Thomas explained that his mother only leaves her Georgia home for church and grocery runs. “When I walked up there and saw her in the first row, I couldn’t hold back,” he said.

Thomas also attempted to name darn near ever teammate he played with during his 19-year career, and it wasn’t forgotten. At the Hall of Famers dinner following the ceremony, Thomas was offered a phone book in case he had missed anyone.

There will be scenes that will leave Mauer in awe. I walked into the restaurant during that same weekend and saw one table with Maddux, Glavine, Molitor, Robin Yount, Rod Carew, Dave Winfield, George Brett and their companions — a power grouping.

I covered Jack Morris’ induction in 2018 and the 2022 ceremony enshrining Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat. Most media members grab breakfast at the Otesaga, and it is quite a sight to see Carlton Fisk, Rickey Henderson, Mike Schmidt, Barry Larkin and other Hall of Famers at nearby tables — then feel a poke in the ribs from Bert Blyleven. There will be meaningful conversations. Eddie Murray came across as someone with a prickly demeanor during his playing days. Not in Cooperstown, where he was engaging and funny the times I spoke with him.

Oliva will welcome Mauer’s entrance into The Hall after having to wait 46 years following the end of his career to join the exclusive club. Oliva took in every moment during his induction weekend, sitting and talking to friends and family at the hotel restaurant until closing time. A few feet away, Wade Boggs was on the karaoke machine. It shouldn’t have taken so long for Oliva to become a Hall of Famer. His constantly beaming smile revealed how much the recognition meant to him.

Mauer sat next to his close friend Justin Morneau, local businessman Marty Davis and others by a fire pit behind the Otesaga Hotel while celebrating Oliva’s induction weekend that year. There was a conversation about having to return two years later for No. 7′s enshrinement.

Mauer, indeed, is headed back. And another career awaits.