**OFFICIAL JOE MAUER RETIRING THREAD**

[vikesbumeout]

Good Luck in Retirement Joe!

I will always remember you as a good guy that stayed out of trouble. Blended in. Thanks for all the memories..........especially all those exciting playoff runs and WS victories.

[RubeTube]

See ya!

[D_H]

Average Mauer year:

9 HR
61 RBI
67 Runs

Don't give me this but but but good ole Joey was a 300 hitter B.S. The difference between a 300 hitter and a 275 hitter is roughly 1 more hit throughout the season every 7 games. Lol

Gas pump hose arms (no work ethic) isn't getting into the Hall, bet the farm on it.

Like I said he was lazy and always looked for every excuse he could not to play.

Thank God she is gone with his B.S. contract.

[Jaamz]

Whats going on? .....Clark's not in here swinging from Joe's nuts...He must be too devastated to comment...lol

[weimy froob]

Angel Hernandez in the playoffs versus the Yankees calling his Double a foul ball when it clearly was fair by TWO feet.

now that you mention it-that still bothers me greatly when somebody or something reminds me of that travesty.

[weimy froob]

Joe Mauer could do it all, but baseball is in his blood
Basketball was Joe Mauer's favorite sport growing up, and recruiting services said he was the best senior quarterback in the country, but Mauer's game was always going to be baseball.



PATRICK REUSSE

Cretin-Derham Hall was going for its second consecutive state football title and Eden Prairie was going for the third of what are now 11 of those titles. They were playing on Thanksgiving weekend in 2000 and the Prep Bowl crowd in the Metrodome was extra large for the Class 5A championship.

Joe Mauer had led the Raiders to a title as a junior, and would be signing with Florida State in February as the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country. Eden Prairie led 21-14 but Cretin-Derham Hall was driving late for a tie. Or a victory.

“I might have gone for two,” Rick Kallok said Friday. “I was a gambler, and I had Joe.”

Kallok was Cretin-DH’s coach, and he was on the phone after it became public that Mauer’s baseball retirement, which was obvious on the last day of the 2018 season, was set to become official Sunday with newspaper ads thanking fans. His football career had ended 18 years earlier, on that Friday night vs. Eden Prairie.

“Joe had tremendous attributes: He could throw all the passes, he had coachability and an understanding of the game,” Kallok said. “I think he probably threw one pass in two years as the starter for us that he regretted, and it was that one in the Dome … just a touch behind Tony Leseman, his main guy.”

Greg Winegarden intercepted the pass at the goal line and headed down the sideline, and Eden Prairie kicked a field goal to guarantee a 24-14 victory.

Mike Grant, the Eden Prairie coach then and now, said: “Joe Mauer was as good a quarterback as we’ve had in the state of Minnesota. And the smartest, too, because he chose baseball and had a great and long career, over football, where those are harder to achieve.”

Grant paused and said: “That’s one of the great plays we’ve had at Eden Prairie. We were lucky to stop Joe. Winegarden was a sophomore when he made that play. We’d always say, ‘Wino, you let a lineman catch you from behind on that one against Cretin. How’d you let that happen?’ ”

The lineman was Ryan Harris, who wound up playing 11 years as an NFL offensive lineman. In Kallok’s opinion, Harris could have been teamed up again with Mauer in the pros, if Joe had gone the football route.

“If Joe had gone to Florida State and played quarterback, he would have wound up playing on Sundays,” Kallok said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Dennis Fitzpatrick, a basketball lifer from St. Paul, says emphatically that Joe’s talent as a 6-foot-3 guard at Cretin deserves attention in the summation of his athletic career. Fitzpatrick was a pal of Rick Majerus and the large man was in St. Paul, scouting Mauer’s teammate, Steve Sir, for a possible scholarship to Utah.

“Rick’s eyes kept drifting off to Mauer,” Fitzpatrick said. “And he’d say, ‘Are you sure he’s going to play baseball?’ ”

Leseman was the target of that one regrettable pass. They are the closest of friends to this day, with a third young Mauer child about to join the three young Leseman children (6 and below) in a marathon of play dates/scrums.

“Joe and I met in Little League, and we started hanging out because our interests matched,” Leseman said. “We played the same three sports. Joe was just a regular good athlete, about the same size as the rest of us, until the summer after our freshman year. Then, he shot up 5 or 6 inches to over 6 feet, and I never moved from 5-foot-8.

“Joe didn’t always win at everything, but once he figured out the game within the game, he was on his way.”

Fitzpatrick says that basketball was Joe’s favorite sport, and recruiting services said he was the best senior quarterback in the country, but Mauer’s game was always going to be baseball.

“He reminded me as much of myself as any hitter, including Tony Gwynn,” Rod Carew said Friday. “Joe could take the ball to left field as easily as I did … hit it on a line out there. And he wasn’t afraid to hit with two strikes.

“He didn’t have an ego. He just played his game. And when he had to move from catcher, he learned to play first base to the point that I thought he could have won a Gold Glove. I moved to first base myself; it’s not as easy as people seem to believe.

“What can you say about the guy? He won three batting titles as a catcher.”

Not quite on par with winning seven at second base and then first, as did Carew with the Twins, but it’s dang close.

And here’s my bottom line on Mauer’s official retirement: The main regret in this for the Twins should be they are losing their second-best player from 2018.

[Jimmy Butler]

He'll never sniff the Hall of Fame people that don't work hard their craft do not belong in the Hall of Fame

See beyond your hate of players that don't hit Homeruns, see beyond the contract. He was the games best catcher for numerous years. Won an MVP, was the best hitter at his position for 5 years, was a 3 time batting champion...He has credentials.

We get it, he got a huge contract, and sucked afterward...doesnt take away what he was before.

The HoF voters will be aware of both sides of Joe, one that puts him in easily, and one that keeps him out, that being pre contract, and post contract. You seem to only remember one side.

He had one great year pre contract and 4 good years. This does not a HOF career make. Most of his career he was an average to below average 1B man.

[zeitgeist]

Mauer was a top 10 position player in the MLB over the 8-9 years of his prime. It's unfortunate that he wasn't able to continue playing Catcher to improve his chance at the Hall. I'd say he still has an outside chance, he has a higher WAR than Kirby Puckett after all, should be interesting.

He had one great year pre contract and 4 good years. This does not a HOF career make. Most of his career he was an average to below average 1B man.

He spent the first 10 years of his career playing Catcher.

[Hornets]

The more I sit back and think about it, the more convinced I am Joe is in the HOF!

[Keith_Morrison]

It was time.

[RALPH MALPH]

The more I sit back and think about it, the more convinced I am Joe is in the HOF!

lol....trolling

[Hornets]

The more I sit back and think about it, the more convinced I am Joe is in the HOF!

lol....trolling

[Drizzay]

Check out the brickhouse with Joe

[weimy froob]

Check out the brickhouse with Joe

[Old_Kid]

.

[mglviks]

Thx Joe! Enjoy retirement.

[mglviks]

He totally wouldve been a Ponder if he choose football.

[RubeTube]

Check out the brickhouse with Joe

I bet he pounded that peach.

Joe's body looks the same there as it does now.

He's also wearing a pinky ring. I bet it smelt like a butt after this pic.

[JPM]

Yeo fired AGAIN.

[twgerber]

Joe deserves HOF entry and I hope he gets in eventually