30 Amazing Facts About Joe Mauer That You Probably Didn't Know

5 June 2019, 4:44 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Joe Mauer, the only catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to win three batting titles, as well as the only catcher to ever win a batting title in the American League (AL), has spent his entire 15-year career with Minnesota Twins of the MLB. Here are a few really interesting things to know about the American former professional baseball player:

He was born Joseph Patrick Mauer, on April 19, 1983, in St. Paul, Minnesto. He is the youngest of three children to Teresa and Jack J.
Mauer came from a long line of baseball players. His grandfather, father, three uncles and his two older brothers, Jack and Billy played professionally and later his father became a baseball coach.
His maternal aunt Jean was all-state in basketball and volleyball and was the first women inducted into Creighton University’s sports hall of fame. Its Jean’s uniform number 6, which he chose for baseball.
The Mauers excelled at four sports in all-baseball, football, basketball, and hockey and later became tennis player and golfers.
His father was his first coach and Mauer’s quick and compact left-handed swing can be traced back to a new pitching machine his father devised at their basement. As a four year old, he was asked to leave his T-ball league, as he was hitting the ball too hard for the other players comfort.
He is married to a fellow graduate of Cretin-Derham Hall High School, Maddie Bisanz since December 1, 2012. The couples are blessed with twin daughters, Maren Virginia and Emily Teresa Mauer and a son Charles Joseph.
He is well known for his long sideburns since day he joined the big leagues. On August 10, 2006, the Minnesota Twins held ‘Joe Mauer Sideburns Night’ in honor of him. The first 10,000 fans were given synthetic replica sideburns with double sided tape to share.
Mauer enrolled at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in September of 1997 and began working his way up the depth charts of the starting quarterback position.
In 1999, as a 16-year old, Mauer was selected for a Uunder-18 international team which went on to win a gold medal in Taiwan. On his return he led his school, Cretin-Derham to the state championship in football.
In his senior year he became the only athlete ever to be selected as the ‘USA Today,’ High School Player of the Year in two sports. As football quarterback in 2000 and as a baseball catcher in 2001.

His high school batting average exceeded .500 every year and was struck out only once in his four years career. He has to his credit of hitting a home run in seven consecutive games, which is a school record and tied a national prep mark.
As an assignment on his family members in his senior years he chose his father, Jake Mauer, the freshman footballer at University of Minnesota, a Korean War veteran, minor league baseball player and a victim of polio attack. He has his father’s attitude and spends time with blind student, Mike Hally, in helping him out.
Mauer had an accomplished football career as the Raiders quarterback. He had completion percentage of 66 for 3,022 yards, with 41 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
He led the Raiders to two consecutive Class 5A State Championship Game and recorded 5,528 yards with 73 touchdowns. He was honored as the 2001 Gatorade National Player of the Year.
He was voted best hitter at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada in 2000 and in the year 2001, he was voted the United States District V Player of the Year.
As a point guard for Cretin-Derham Hall, he averaged more than 20 points per game and made it to the All-State team in his final two years with Raiders.
Backtracking from his collegiate commitment with Florida State University, he entered MLB Draft and was selected as the first overall pick in the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft by Minnesota Twins for a deal worth around $5 million.
Referring to his selection in the 2001 MLB amateur draft, the ‘Sports Illustrated,’ picked it as one of the ten ‘signature’ movements, in U.S. High School sports, in the 2000-2009 decade.
He played the first three year in the minor league for the Elizabethton Twins, Quad City River Banits, and New Britain Rock Cats before proceeding to the Major League.
Playing for the Elizabethton of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, Mauer hit .400 in 32 games and later playing for the Quad City River Bandits of the Class-A Midwest League in the 2002, season he hit .302 to finish in the circuit Top 10, despite being on the disable list.

For the 2003 season he was promoted to Fort Myers of the High-A Florida State League and averaged .335 in batting in 62 games and was promoted to Double-A New Britain where he averaged .341 in the 73 games. He logged .339 with 5 homers and 85 RBIs in all to be named America’s Minor League Player of the Year.
He made his Major League debut against Cleveland Indians before a knee injury to his left medial meniscus on April 7, 200, sidelined him for more than a month. In all, he played 35 games averaging .308 with 6 homers and 17 RBIs.
Mauer became the first catcher in American League history to lead in batting average with .347 in 2006 and was also the first player since 1997 to reach base four or more times for five consecutive games.
His performance through the season earned him the American League batting title and the youngest to do so. He won his first Silver Slugger Award for the 2006 season. He batted .347 with 13 home runs, and 84 RBIs in the season.
In 2009, Mauer became the first catcher to lead the league in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage in a single year and first player in American League history to lead in all the three since 1980.
He was named the American League’s 2009 Most Valuable Player and his batting average of .365 is the highest among catchers since 1901. He went on to win his second consecutive Golden Glove in the season.
On November 09, 2018, Mauer announced his retirement officially in an open letter to Twins fans and his jersey No. 7 will be retired on June 15, 2019. He spent his entire 15 – year Baseball career with the Minnesota Twins.
Mauer’s Quickswing Camp is held annually in the winter at a St. Paul area college to teach youngsters the basics of batting skills. He also appears in the ‘2009 Backyard Baseball,’ the baseball video game for children.
He modeled for Perry Ellis, the clothing brand and featured in television commercials for Head & Shoulder, Pepsi, ESPN, Fox Sports Net, PlayStation 3 my29 and also for state tourism agency.
Mauer has represented Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, as catcher and first baseman.