After announcing his retirement from the Minnesota Twins, it was time to say goodbye to one of Minnesota’s legendary players and time for Joe Mauer to be recognized by the Twins organization. The master of ceremonies was television’s voice of the Twins Dick Bremer, and the radio voice Corey Provus. In attendance at Target Field were some of Mauer’s teammates. They included former number 33 Justin Morneau and also number 34 Kirby Puckett’s children.
Morneau began by talking about Mr. Mauer and how playing with Mauer had affected him. Justin also mentioned how nervous he was in the on deck circle while he was waiting for Mauer to finish his at bat, and how Mauer didn’t seem nervous at all. Morneau said to Mauer’s parents “You can be proud of the son that you raised.” Provus and Bremer told the Twins fans to look at the video board several times, because during the ceremony they showed some scenes from Mauer’s childhood, when he was interacting with his brothers.
After waiting for several minutes, it was time to hear from the former Minnesota Twin himself. Mauer told the current Twins team to “go get them.” The Twins Hall of Famers were introduced, including Tom Kelly who managed the team during the 1987 and 1991 World Series. Bremer also introduced his current television partner Bert Blyleven.
Mauer addressed his family and told his wife Matti Mauer “I love you.” Mauer was crying a little bit. After the unveiling of number 7, Mauer threw a ceremonial first pitch to his father. That concluded the retirement ceremony. The one thing that stood out to this reporter was how loved he was by everyone in attendance.
