Joseph Patrick Mauer might just get in first ballot

[Subarudrivingsnowflake]

The other 2 hall of famers are Carew and Puckett.

Mauer doesn’t compare to either one of those guys. He never helped the franchise win and never won a playoff game. He was a good catcher but come on.

[weimy froob]

The other 2 hall of famers are Carew and Puckett.

Mauer doesn’t compare to either one of those guys. He never helped the franchise win and never won a playoff game. He was a good catcher but come on.

umm--harmon and tony?

[Subarudrivingsnowflake]

It says more about the fans than the player.

You can blame it on Mauer all you want but Minnesota Twins fans....and Minnesota fans in general suck. Most fan bases would be campaigning for their .204 hitting utility player to make the HOF and some of these jackasses are acting as if Mauer was useless. Because why? He took the Pohlad's money...the same money those same people bitch about them not giving to players?

Guess what? They'd hate Mauer even more if he went to Boston or New York where he probably would have made a shit ton more money in endorsements. He stays here and people hate him anyways.

I've never seen a fanbase who turns against players as much as Minnesota fans with Mauer and Cousins being two of the biggest recent examples. Shit, diehard Vikings fans actively rooted against Randy Moss winning a Super Bowl with New England because he was TRADED away.

Minnesotans are so insecure and have a complete "what have you done for ME lately?" attitude.

Mauer is the last homegrown Twin that will sniff the regular ballot HOF for the next 20 years. The first since Puckett in 2001 and insecure jackasses who couldn't start for their JV baseball team want to see him fail to get to Cooperstown because he didn't hit enough dingers while the guy was getting concussions behind the plate.

Ohh, and a lot of those same fans would lick Byron Buxton's sweaty feet no matter what despite him playing 20 games a season.

Pretty sad when national writers with no connections to Mauer like him more than his own fans.

I love Joe and Kirk and I agree they are underappreciated, both as athletes and as human beings. The angst towards Joe by many here clearly goes back to the massive contract he signed. Everyone rejoiced at the time and were elated that the Pohlads did what they had to do to keep him here. Mauer and Morneausy were in the absolute prime of their careers and as fans we were salivating at the thought of having both of them in the lineup for years to come. Well, almost immediately things came crashing down....Justin got the concussion that basically ruined the rest of his Twins career and then Joe was not able to replicate the big HR season he had just before signing the contract. Then he started getting hurt and the concussions eventually led to him finishing his career at first base. The fan base felt like it had the wind knocked out of it and for some reason they would not give Joe a pass even though his injury issues clearly diminished what could have turned out to be a simply amazing career...

Yep 100%.

Trust me....I *get* why Twins fans are down on Mauer. The entire "bi-lateral leg weakness" escapade was fucking weird. I have my own theories that it was something deeper than that that the team/doctors didn't make public (I still say it was head related). But there's a reason why catchers usually don't last long behind the plate...they get their ass kicked and their knees are subjected to things that the human knee isn't built for especially in the days when catchers could get bulldozed.

I'm sure I come off as defending Joe like his mom would. I'm not even a big Mauer fan nor do I think he's a 1st ballot type of player (3rd...4th is about right) but just seeing Twins fans not wanting him in the HOF *at all* is just stupid.

It's just a weird dynamic that the fans can't appreciate what the guy did for the organization when he could have pulled a Hunter and left.

Like I said, Minnesota fans are strange....some fans take sports things personally like Mauer personally wronged *them* by not hitting for power the rest of his career.

Insecurities of flyover country residents.

What did he do for the organization? It definitely wasn’t winning. Shit any player on bomba squad did more than he did!

[weimy froob]

kaat and blyleven pitched more than a few years with the twins if you're looking at pitchers.

[JPM]

The other 2 hall of famers are Carew and Puckett.

Mauer doesn’t compare to either one of those guys. He never helped the franchise win and never won a playoff game. He was a good catcher but come on.

Rod Carew batted .220 with 11 hits, an RBI and 6 runs scored in 14 games in the postseason in his career. My favorite player of all time but c'mon man.

[feekdogg]

Not sure why people insist on bringing up the 2019 team in an effort to crap on Mauer's lack of playoff wins. Pretty sure that team didn't win anything either.

[Roy D.]

Mauer is a nice guy sure…but getting in on the first ballot was a big stretch.

[ForCaleb]

Not sure why people insist on bringing up the 2019 team in an effort to crap on Mauer's lack of playoff wins. Pretty sure that team didn't win anything either.

Do the writers consider team playoff records when looking at players?

[feekdogg]

Not sure why people insist on bringing up the 2019 team in an effort to crap on Mauer's lack of playoff wins. Pretty sure that team didn't win anything either.

Do the writers consider team playoff records when looking at players?

I'd guess some of the old guard definitely looks at playoff success as part of it (it's not like Mauer was putrid in the playoffs, he hit well over .400 in 2009, and that would be higher had he not gotten absolutely jobbed out of a leadoff double). Not a great example because I think he voted for Mauer, but as more guys like Reusse are eventually replaced by voters who vote strictly based on numbers/stats rather than the "eye test", you're going to see more and more players that the average fan looks at as a borderline HOF guy pretty easily get 75%.

[ForCaleb]

Not sure why people insist on bringing up the 2019 team in an effort to crap on Mauer's lack of playoff wins. Pretty sure that team didn't win anything either.

Do the writers consider team playoff records when looking at players?

I'd guess some of the old guard definitely looks at playoff success as part of it (it's not like Mauer was putrid in the playoffs, he hit well over .400 in 2009, and that would be higher had he not gotten absolutely jobbed out of a leadoff double). Not a great example because I think he voted for Mauer, but as more guys like Reusse are eventually replaced by voters who vote strictly based on numbers/stats rather than the "eye test", you're going to see more and more players that the average fan looks at as a borderline HOF guy pretty easily get 75%.

I agree, thanks

[Tuck ya in]

Not sure why people insist on bringing up the 2019 team in an effort to crap on Mauer's lack of playoff wins. Pretty sure that team didn't win anything either.

Do the writers consider team playoff records when looking at players?

Possibly some do, but they shouldn't....it's ridiculous. I see some of America's dumbest on the national boards comment sections asking why he got in because the Twins never won anything during his tenure. It's not like a position player in baseball has the ability to win a series single handedly like a Quarterback does in football, or even a pitcher. People are getting dumber by the second in this country, I swear.

[zeitgeist]

Holy crap, talk about vindication! I've been arguing that Mauer is a HoFer with some of you for years and looks like I was right!