'He deserves to be in here': Morneau speaks on Mauer, M&M Boys

MINNEAPOLIS -- Justin Morneau laughs as he explains that the first time he figured he’d one day be traveling to Cooperstown, N.Y., to watch Joe Mauer get inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame was, in fact, the first at-bat he saw Mauer take in Spring Training.

Not only did the Twins draft the hometown kid from Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft, but they then invited the 18-year-old Mauer to big league Spring Training in ‘02, where he received a standing ovation from the crowd before his first plate appearance.

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No pressure, right? That’s what Morneau was thinking as he watched from the on-deck circle.

“It was just like the seat I had for the rest of my career,” Morneau said. “Just sitting there watching him -- he went up there, same thing he always does. Took the first pitch. Then hit a bullet up the middle. Another standing ovation. And it was just like, ‘This kid’s got something special.’”

Morneau couldn’t have known at the time just how prescient that impression would prove. On Sunday, not only will Mauer indeed enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland, but he’ll become only the third catcher to be elected on the first ballot.

Two years after that first Spring Training, Mauer was in the Majors, where the pair became roommates -- an inseparable duo that anchored the heart of Minnesota lineups through the late Metrodome era, when Twins fans watched the “M&M Boys” each win an AL MVP Award as they carried the team to three AL Central titles alongside Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, Joe Nathan and other favorite faces that defined an era of Twins baseball.

“I think I learned more from him than he did from me,” Morneau said. “Just the way to prepare and the way to handle pressure and the way to handle attention and the way to handle kind of everything that he did. That was kind of a springboard for me in my career being able to learn from someone who’s younger than you, which is pretty rare.”

Mauer played every one of his 1,858 games across 15 seasons with his hometown Twins, during which the bond he developed with Morneau extended far beyond the baseball diamond. Not only did they grow together and watch each other become fathers, but they also each went through concussion issues that fundamentally changed the course of their careers.

“He’s a very guarded person,” Morneau said. “He doesn’t let very many people in. … We shared so many different ups and downs together and going through injuries and career highlights and losses as a team and all that stuff. I think there’s very few people that can actually relate on that same level, and I think that that’s important for both of us.”

That’s why Morneau started getting butterflies in his own stomach when he got the confirmation email last week detailing his hotel reservation for Cooperstown. He’s getting nervous himself, even though his only job is really to show up, play golf and socialize.

But the magnitude of what that friendship has meant has hit particularly hard as Sunday’s induction has approached, especially after Morneau had a chance to reflect on the big picture when he was recruited by MLB Network to narrate the video of Mauer’s career arc when the election results were announced in January.

“We basically rode to the ballpark in a cab together every single game that we were teammates, riding on the bus, sitting next to each other on the plane -- there was a lot of time spent,” Morneau said.

While Morneau himself is nervous on Mauer’s behalf, he’s seen enough from the on-deck circle and from the adjoining hotel room bed over the years to know that the unassuming, humble Mauer has never been impacted by the spotlight -- and, really, that spotlight is now deserved in recognition of a remarkable career.

“Playing in a smaller market in the middle of the country, I’m not sure he got all the credit that maybe he was due throughout his career,” Morneau said. “So I think that’s a positive that people are going to be able to reflect and look at his run, especially as a catcher, and go, ‘This guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He deserves to be in here.’”