MINNEAPOLIS — *Editor's note: The above video first aired Aug. 3, 2023 ahead of joe Mauer's induction into the Twins Hall of Fame.
Months after being inducted into the Minnesota Twins' Hall of Fame, Joe Mauer will take his first swing at Cooperstown.
The St. Paul native is among 12 new candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot released on Monday. Some of the other newcomers on the ballot this year are are Adrián Beltré, Chase Utley, David Wright, José Bautista and Matt Holliday.
Todd Helton, who fell 11 votes short this year in ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and Billy Wagner, who was 27 shy, are among 14 holdovers.
Mauer, a six-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 2009 AL MVP, is the only catcher to win three batting titles. He batted .306 with 143 homers and 906 RBIs with Minnesota from 2004-18. In August, he became the 38th player in franchise history to be enshrined in the Twins Hall of Fame.
Growing up in St. Paul, it was evident early on that Mauer was destined for greatness. He not only developed into a star on the Cretin-Derham Hall baseball team, but he was also a standout quarterback. In fact, Mauer was named the 2001 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year.
Mauer went No. 1 overall in the 2001 MLB Draft, and the rest is history.
“Being a kid from St. Paul and being able to put on the Minnesota Twins uniform for 15 years and be able to play in front of my family and friends and go out there and compete against the best in the world is, is still sometimes I got to pinch myself,” Mauer told KARE 11's Randy Shaver in an interview earlier this year.
The Athletic's Tyler Kepner, in breaking down the 12 candidates, noted Mauer's injury history, lack of power and the early end of his career, while also recalling that the hometown boy's ascendance to the major leagues coincided with the near-demise of the Twins franchise through contraction. He re-energized a ballclub and helped rescue baseball in Minnesota from death row.
"Remember the context. If you had said, in November 2001, that not only would the Twins escape death row, but also that the kid from St. Paul would win an MVP, three Gold Gloves, three batting titles and play his entire career at home — all while conducting himself with class and dignity — you would have absolutely signed up for it," Kepner wrote. "Imperfect careers can still be extraordinary."
Bartolo Colon, Adrián González, Victor Martinez, Brandon Phillips, José Reyes and James Shields also are making their first appearances on the ballot.
When Scott Rolen was elected this year, Helton got 72.2% of the vote and Wagner 68.1%,
Other holdovers include steroids-tainted Alex Rodríguez (139 votes, 35.7%) and Manny Ramírez (129, 33.2%) along with Andruw Jones (226, 58.1%), Gary Sheffield (214, 55%), Carlos Beltrán (181, 46.5%), Omar Vizquel (76, 19.5%), Andy Pettitte (66, 17%), Bobby Abreu (60, 15.4%), Jimmy Rollins (50, 12.9%), Mark Buehrle (42, 10.8%), Francisco Rodríguez (42, 10.8%) and Torii Hunter (27, 6.9%).
Sheffield will be making his 10th and final BBWAA ballot appearance.
BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership are eligible to vote. Ballots must be postmarked by Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 23. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 21 along with anyone chosen Dec. 3 by the hall’s contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires.
Beltré, a four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove third baseman, hit .286 with 477 homers and 1,707 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004), Seattle (2005-09), Boston (2010) and Texas (2011-18). His 2,759 games at third base are second to Brooks Robinson's 2,870 and his 636 doubles are 11th on the career list.
Utley was a six-time All-Star second baseman who hit .275 with 259 homers and 1,025 RBIs for Philadelphia (2003-15) and the Dodgers (2015-19). His five home runs in the 2009 World Series are tied for the record with Reggie Jackson (1977) and George Springer (2017).
Wright, a seven-time All-Star, hit .296 with 242 homers, 970 RBIs and 196 stolen bases from the New York Mets from 2004-18, his career cut short by neck, back and shoulder injuries that required surgery.
Bautista, an All-Star outfielder in six straight seasons from 2010-15, batted .247 with 344 homers and 975 RBIs for Baltimore (2004), Tampa Bay (2004), Kansas City (2004), Pittsburgh (2004-08), Toronto (2008-17), Atlanta (2018), the Mets (2018) and Philadelphia (2018).
Holliday was a seven-time All-Star outfielder who won the 2007 NL batting title. He hit .299 with 316 homers and 1,220 RBIs for Colorado (2004-08, 2018), Oakland (2009), St. Louis (2009-16) and the New York Yankees (2017).
Jim Leyland, Lou Piniella, Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson are among eight men on the committee ballot along with umpires Joe West and Ed Montague, former National League President Bill White and former general manager Hank Peters.
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