Joe Mauer strode toward the Target Field batter's box Wednesday, just as he had officially done in 2,469 career plate appearances at the ballpark. He tossed his keys and cellphone into the grass, like a confident basketball player showing up at the local court and calling "next."
He got comfortable at the plate, then watched the first pitch — even though it was a softball moving at a very low rate of speed — go past him, as is his custom. And then he started launching moon shots, or more aptly sun shots, toward a perfect late-morning sky before they landed in the right field seats and beyond.
Mauer, crushing homers?
He will abandon his approach of hitting line drives to left-center, but only for a good cause.
In this case, it's his own event. Mauer met with media members in advance of the Mauer Friends and Kids Classic coming up at 1 p.m. June 15 to benefit Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare.
It's a home run derby, with the likes of Mauer, his good friend Justin Morneau and other former teammates such as Jim Thome, Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier and Nick Punto confirmed to be participating.
In past years, Mauer has lent his name and time to similar charitable endeavors, but typically those events have been indoor sit-down affairs, he said. COVID-19 forced organizers to think of new ways to put on a safe gathering, and by the sound of things the idea is quite popular.
"We've been having a lot of fun with the text messages between the group that's coming," Mauer said. "A lot of excitement, and some trash talk, too. So it's good."
It's a brief interruption of the dad life Mauer has become gratefully immersed in since his retirement following the 2018 season. He's an assistant soccer coach for his twin daughters, Emily and Maren, a role in which he tries to practice restraint. Charles "Chip" Mauer was born shortly after Joe retired and is now an energetic 2½-year-old.
"I've been running around with him," Mauer said, "which has been a lot of fun."
Mauer said he hasn't even watched many Twins games this season in part because he has been so busy with his kids. He checks in on their progress by reading boxscores and talking with Morneau, who serves as an analyst on the team's Bally Sports North broadcasts.
"It's just into June. It's still early but not that early," Mauer said in assessing the team and noting all the injuries. "Guys can get healthy, and it gives opportunities to other guys to step up and for the front office to get a good look at them. You try to take that negative and turn it into a positive. Hopefully the boys can get it going here."
Reconnecting with old teammates — all of whom were eager to help out with the event, Mauer said — has reinforced what he loved the most about his career.
"That's the thing. With all these guys coming back from out of town, it's like we haven't missed a beat," Mauer said. "That's just kind of the relationship, the bond you form with your teammates over the course of a big league season and the course of years playing together."
They also all want to win the derby on June 15, which has been reinforced on the group text and perhaps accelerated by comments from Punto.
Thome, Dozier and Morneau were all known as far more prolific power hitters during their careers than Mauer, who hit only 32 home runs at Target Field during the final nine seasons of his career.
But if you're setting a line for the winner of the derby, don't count out the hypercompetitive former player who also happens to have his name attached to the event. He was launching juiced-up softballs on Wednesday into parts of Target Field often reserved for Thome.
"It's good to get the bat in your hand and try to swing and try to hit some homers," Mauer said.
