What Has Joe Mauer Been Up To Since Retiring From Baseball?
It isn’t easy to retire young. You’d have to work hard in order to play hard, after all. For retired Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, retirement might be just the beginning of it all. The 36-year old former professional baseball player retired last year, but he’s managing to still be relevant right now. That’s a testament to the legacy he established while he was playing baseball. Within a short 15-year MLB career, Mauer was able to stack up some heavy accolades that will forever be his legacy. Now that he’s retired and still so young, we’re left wondering what he’d be doing for the rest of his life. Let’s take a look at what Joe Mauer’s been up to since he retired in 2018.
The Past
Just because he’s retired from baseball doesn’t mean that he’s not relevant in the sport any longer. As a matter of fact, the debate about whether Mauer is deserving of the Hall of Fame honor has been going on even when he was still playing. According to this article from Startribune.com, the decision will be made in about 4 years. There’s still a great division among baseball fans. For now, it seems like it’s 50/50. Some people believe that Mauer absolutely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, while others think that he simply wasn’t good enough. Nevertheless, that’s four years in the making, and there’s ample time for the baseball gods to make a proper decision.
In addition, the Twins recently retired Mauer’s jersey. Mauer only played for one professional team throughout his professional baseball career, and he only wore one number. There’s a great sentimentality to that idea, and it was deeply emotional for Mauer, his family, and his fans to see his No. 7 jersey hanging up along with other franchise greats. The event was a huge success, and we saw many of baseball’s most famous players attend. In fact, that day was declared “Joe Mauer Day” and will henceforth be known as such. That’s certainly something for Mauer to look forward to in the next coming years.
How Life Works
It’s interesting the way life works. Mauer grew up in St. Paul. He grew up as a baseball fan with a dream of playing for the Twins. He got that dream and more. In his speech during his jersey retirement, Mauer stated that he’s now going back to the stands to become a fan again. Surely, he’s more like a super fan now. We’re certain that Mauer will be spending a good amount of his retirement doing what he enjoys, which is sitting to watch some good baseball.
Apart from all the baseball talk, you can imagine that Mauer’s been doing plenty of other things to bide his time. First off, he does have his family to care for and enjoy time with. Mauer spends time with his wife, Maddie, and their twin girls, Emily and Maren. Last year just after he retired, Mauer’s wife gave birth to their third child and son, Charles. We can already picture Mauer teaching his son baseball even as in infancy. In this article from Twincities.com, Mauer states that he’s definitely looking forward to spending some more dad time. So far, Mauer also stated that he’s not missing baseball just yet. Maybe it’s because he’s still doing so much of it—even if it’s on the sidelines. He even attended spring training in Ft. Myers, Florida this year. It seems he just can’t stay away from it.
From the looks of it, Mauer probably doesn’t have any plans right now of staying away from baseball at all. Since he retired, Mauer has said time and again that he’s willing to help the Minnesota Twins win in the future. That might not happen with him in the field again, but he can certainly come in at a different capacity. Whether it means that he might be in the office or out on the field in a coach position, the Twins are likely to give Mauer anything he wants. There are plenty of opportunities waiting for Mauer within the Twins organization, but of course, Mauer might spend a little bit of time enjoying his retirement first. The Chief Baseball Officer for the Twins, Derek Falvey, has already consulted Mauer for ideas regarding conditioning and flexibility routines. Consulting is a role that might be suitable for Mauer until he’s ready to come back full time—if he’d come back at all. For now, he’s giving his ideas and helping his former team without the pressure of even having to be there.
In addition to that, Mauer is latently inspiring the future generation of baseball players in his hometown. He started as a Minnesota high school star and retired as one of MLB’s giants. Even by making appearances throughout his state, he’s already keeping the hopes up for many young and aspiring baseball players.
Life Now
In an interview last year before he retired, Mauer said that he’d been talking to other players that have retired to get some perspective on what retirement is like. In retrospect, that was almost a foreshadowing of his retirement. But earlier in the interview, Mauer was asked whether he would ever return to baseball in a different uniform. He answered that he probably won’t. Mauer’s answer was generic in some way, but it does beg the question of whether he would ever return to baseball as a player. Many pros have done it before, and it’s mostly due to love for the game. While Mauer may not miss the game just yet and while there are many roles he can fill within the Twins organization, there’s still a chance that he might return in a couple of years to play for the Twins again. We’re sure that many fans would welcome him back with arms wide open if he ever decides to do play again. For now, Mauer will just sit and ponder his career—all while enjoying dad and husband life.
