Childhood & Early Life
Joe Mauer was born on April 19, 1983, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Teresa and Jake Mauer Jr. He has two older brothers named Jake and Billy Mauer. Baseball runs in his blood as his grandfather and father were professional players.
His father trained him and his brothers to play early on. He went to Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul where he played baseball, basketball, and football.
In basketball, he played point guard and averaged more than 20 points per game. He was also named to the ‘All-State’ team during his last two years. In baseball, he was stuck out only once in his entire four-year high school career and batted .605 during his senior season.
From 1998 to 2000, he caught for ‘Team USA’ as a baseball player and also set a Minnesota high school record. In football, he led ‘Raiders’ to win ‘Class 5A State Championship Game’ for the first time in 1999.
In 2000, he was voted the “best hitter” at the ‘World Junior Baseball Championship’ in Canada. He was also offered a football scholarship from Florida State University which he refused in order to take part in the ‘Major League Baseball’ draft.
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Career
Joe Mauer started his professional baseball career after being selected by the ‘Minnesota Twins’ as the first overall pick of the 2001 draft. He played with the United States' roster in ‘All-Star Futures Game’ at U.S. Cellular Field in 2003, before getting promoted to the Twins’ roster in 2004.
In his ‘Major League’ debut, he went for 2-for-3 against ‘Cleveland Indians’. On 7 April 2004, he suffered a knee injury and went for surgery which ended his 2004 season prematurely.
In the 2004-05 off-seasons, he modeled for Perry Ellis and worked in many TV commercials. On January 24, 2005, he signed a $5.7 million contract with the ‘Twins’ and returned to its lineup for his first full major league season. By the end of 2005, he had scored an average of .294.
In 2006, he was selected for his first ‘All-Star Game’ (July 2) and appeared on the cover of ‘Sports Illustrated’ (August 7). He also became the first catcher in ‘Major League’ history to lead in batting average and the first ‘American League’ catcher to win the batting title.
He finished his 2006 season with an average of .347 and won his first ‘Silver Slugger Award’. On 11 February 2007, he signed a $34 million, four-year contract with the ‘Twins’ and hit his career’s first inside-the-park home run against ‘Angels’ on July 21, 2007.
In 2008, he became the first AL catcher to win the batting title twice, leading them with an average of .328. In the 2008 MLB All-Star Game, he was announced as the starting catcher for AL and won his first ‘Gold Glove’ award on 6 November.
In 2009, after missing the initial season due to joint inflammation, he returned on May 1, and became the first catcher to lead the AL in all four parameters - batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.444), slugging percentage (.587) and OPS (1.031) in a single year, and won his second consecutive ‘Gold Glove’.
He was also named the 2009 ‘Major League Player of the Year’ (October 29) and the ‘2009 American League Most Valuable Player’ (November 23) by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
On 27 January 2010, he recorded an episode of ‘Homecoming’ for ESPN at Cretin-Derham Hall High School. On 21 March 2010, he signed an eight-year $184 million contract extension with the ‘Twins’.
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In 2011, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and was placed on the disabled list. On May 25, he returned in an extended spring training game. After a stint with the ‘Fort Myers Miracle’, he returned to the ‘Twins’ on June 17, 2011, and ended his season with poor performance.
In 2013, he secured a fifteen-game hitting streak from (30 April -18 May) before being placed on a 7-day disabled list due to concussion-like symptoms. He was also selected for ‘Team USA’ as a catcher and first baseman for the ‘2013 World Baseball Classic’ and won the 2013 AL ‘Silver Slugger Award’ as a catcher.
In 2015, he stuck out 100 times for the first time and finished the year with 10 HR and 66 RBI. He finished his 2016 season with a low .261 batting average in 134 games. For the 2017 season, he batted with an average of .305.
On April 12, 2018, he became the 287th player in the history of MLB to collect 2000 hits and made his first post-concussion appearance as a catcher on September 30, 2018, at Target Field. On November 9, 2018, he officially retired from baseball.
Awards & Achievements
Joe Mauer has been the only sportsperson ever to be honored as the ‘USA Today High School Player of the Year’ in two sports - football in 2000, and baseball (catcher) in 2001.
He is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles, and the only catcher ever to win a batting title in the ‘American League.’
He has won three consecutive ‘Gold Glove’ awards (2008–10) and the ‘2009 AL Most Valuable Player’ award.
Family & Personal Life
During the 2006 season, Joe Mauer shared a house with his former teammate Justin Morneau in St. Paul, Minnesota.
On December 11, 2011, he announced his engagement with his fellow Cretin-Derham Hall High School graduate and nurse Maddie Bisanz. The couple married on December 1, 2012, at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul.
He has twins daughters named Emily Teresa and Maren Virginia, born on July 24, 2013, and a son named Charles "Chip" Joseph, born on November 14, 2018. He bought a house in Sunfish Lake, Minnesota, in 2012.
