From the playgrounds of the Twin Cities to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown, it was the day Twins fans long waited for.
Thousands were in the tiny upstate New York town for the annual induction ceremony for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Although Mauer was one of four joining the shrine--the others were Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Jim Leyland--it appears that most of the fans in attendance wearing Twins gear and cheering for their hometown hero.
Mauer was a high school phenom in both football and baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall, and was named USA Today’s High School Player of the Year in football in 2000 and baseball in 2001.
He was drafted by his hometown Twins with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft.
“It was truly an honor to be a (Minnesota Twin) and represent my hometown team,” Mauer said.
The future six-time All-Star catcher spent just three years in the minors before spending all 15 years of his big league career with the Twins.
Mauer finished with one Most Valuable Player award and three batting titles, and is the only catcher in history with at least 2,000 hits, a .300 batting average and a .380 on-base percentage.
Mauer noted the emotion he felt seeing all the Minnesota fans throughout the weekend.
“It’s not easy to get to Cooperstown and especially with the events that have happened this last week,” he said. “But to see that many Twins fans out there, I just felt the love and I was just hoping that I could deliver the speech that I wrote down.”
Players who fell short of the 75% threshold for election included Billy Wagner (73.8%), Gary Sheffield (63.9%), Andruw Jones (61.6%) and Carlos Beltrán (57.1%). Sheffield was on the ballot for the 10th time without reaching the 75% mark and is no longer eligible for BBWAA consideration.
Joe Castiglione and Gerry Fraley were also honored during Hall of Fame weekend.
Castiglione has been the Boston Red Sox radio broadcaster for a record 42 seasons and received the Ford C. Frick Award.
Fraley was posthumously honored with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for his work as a writer.
Fraley covered the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers, and also worked as the national baseball writer for the Dallas Morning News.