Joe Mauer, an American former professional baseball player, had an illustrious fifteen-year career with the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball. Raised in a baseball family, Mauer’s talent was nurtured from a young age by his father. He excelled in multiple sports during his time at St. Paul’s Cretin-Derham Hall High School, earning recognition as the USA Today High School Player of the Year in both football and baseball. Despite a football scholarship offer, Mauer chose to pursue a career in baseball and was selected as the first overall pick in the 2001 MLB draft by the Twins. Throughout his career, Mauer achieved remarkable feats, including winning three batting titles as a catcher and becoming the only catcher in American League history to win a batting title. Despite facing injuries and challenges, Mauer’s contributions to the sport were highly acclaimed. Off the field, he is happily married to Maddie Bisanz and is a proud father of three children.
Quick Facts
- Also Known As: Joseph Patrick Mauer
- Age: 40 Years, 40 Year Old Males
- Family:
- Father: Jake Mauer Jr.
- Mother: Teresa Mauer
- Siblings: Billy Mauer, Jake
- Children: Charles Joseph Mauer, Emily Teresa Mauer, Maren Virginia Mauer
- Born Country: United States
- Baseball Players
- Film & Theater Personalities
- Height: 6’5″ (196 cm), 6’5″ Males
- Ancestry: Austrian American
- U.S. State: Minnesota
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 struck 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.
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 2-for-3 against ‘Cleveland Indians’. On April 7, 2004, he suffered a knee injury and underwent 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 a batting average of .294.
In 2006, he was selected for his first ‘All-Star Game’ and appeared on the cover of ‘Sports Illustrated’. He 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’. In 2008, he became the first AL catcher to win the batting title twice and won his first ‘Gold Glove’ award.
In 2009, he became the first catcher to lead the AL in all four parameters – batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS – in a single year. He won his second consecutive ‘Gold Glove’ and was named the 2009 ‘Major League Player of the Year’ and the ‘2009 American League Most Valuable Player’.
On April 12, 2018, he became the 287th player in the history of MLB to collect 2000 hits and officially retired from baseball on November 9, 2018.
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 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, and have 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.
Trivia
Mauer once used to sport long sideburns. On August 10, 2006, the Twins hosted “Joe Mauer Sideburns Night” in which synthetic sideburns were distributed to the first 10,000 fans!