Long after were all gone, people of the year 4718 will uncover some long lost DVDs. Scientists will analyze these videos for years upon years trying to figure out who it is. Some will say he was the prophet. Other may say he's God's second child. No one can figure out who this man was.
They will ask Peter Gammons (who reported on Jesus Christ's stickball league all them years ago) who this man was and if he has any relation to Christ. Peter will look up at the monitor and as if he was the old lady in the movie Titanic, he'll start having vivid flashbacks.
"No, that's not God's son," he'll say. "That's Joe Mauer."
Minnesota Twins' catcher Joe Mauer is having a career year in 2009. He has already surpassed his entire home run total from last season, is hitting .414, and has 40 RBI. Oh right, I forgot to mention that he's done all of that in 41 games.
Joe Mauer is probably...no wait...IS the best player in baseball. He has one of the sweetest swings the sport has ever seen. Many have compared his swing to the legendary Ted Williams and could be the next player to hit .400 in a season. All that means he has the skills to hit the ball.
Mauer is probably one of the league's best defensive catchers as well. He posses a strong arm that can throw would-be base thieves out, rarely gives up passed balls, and fields his position as well as any player in the league. So he has the defensive tools.
Among his physical talents comes a great knowledge of the game of baseball. Sure, we know how good he is at hittingm but do we fully know how good Mauer's baseball brain is? Just look at the Twins' young starting rotation. Mauer has to been able to call a good game behind the plate, which he does. Mental tools? Check.
So why is Joe Mauer not considered a top 10 player in the league?
In May, The Sporting News released a list of the 50 greatest players in baseball today. You had the usual suspects atop of the list: Pujols, A-Rod, Santana, and Manny etc. I scrolled down the list searching for Joe Mauer. I passed number ten, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 and did not see Joe Mauer. I scrolled back up to the top of the list to see if I missed him. I didn't.
On this list, Joe Mauer was number 39. Shocked, I racked my brain for a few days thinking why Mauer isn't considered a top 10 player in this league. Nothing came to me until this past Saturday.
I was watching ESPNEWS during my nephew's birthday party. Hey, you try having 15 kids at you're house. You'll have a headache, too! Anyways, as I was watching ESPNEWS, I saw something that put it all into focus: Luis Castillo's dropped fly ball that gave the Yankees a win.
Now, I know you're scratching your head and thinking "This guy is a moron. What the Bill Buckner does that have to do with anything?" Let me put it into focus: They covered that story for 15 minutes!
So there it is, folks! Joe Mauer is not considered a top player in this league because he plays for the Minnesota Twins and not a big market team like the Mets, Yankees, or Red Sox.
We all know that the media is biased towards the big market teams, because that's what people want to see. These sports networks will spend 10 minutes showing highlights from Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols, while smaller market stars like Joe Mauer and Grady Sizemore get a healthy 30 seconds, simply because their team doesn't get the same media coverage.
Also working against Mauer is the fact that he doesn't hit 40 home runs a year. We all get media coverage of the long ball but we typically don't see the the simple RBI single with two outs on ESPN. Maybe Mauer's new found power will get him more exposure?
So for those of you who live out of Minnesota, when you're watching ESPN, don't blink because that hitter with the glow around him...that's Joe Mauer and no, he was not exposed to radiation, he's just that good.
Dan Carey is co-founder of Minnesota Sports Guys blog at: http://themnsportsguys.blogspot.com/ and a sports-humor writer at www.BleacherReport.com.
He can be contacted at: yamaharider1228@aol.com
- Login to post comments