Joe Mauer was a two-sport star in Minnesota and he was committed to Florida State. Of course, the Twins had the first pick in the 2001 draft and grabbed Mauer. He only won three battling titles and the MVP in 2009, batting .306 with 2,123 hits and 143 home runs.
Think I've told this story a few times but it's timely tonight. Back in 2009, each of the FSU beat writers had a chance to sit down with coach Bowden on his golf cart as players were warming up for a practice before the bowl game against West Virginia. We each had 15 minutes.
I asked coach if there was one prospect FSU missed out on that could have helped to turn the program around. He thought for a minute and mentioned CJ Spiller. (No surprise there.) And then he mentioned Joe Mauer. Coach Bowden thought that highly of what Mauer looked like as a quarterback. According to an old ESPN.com story, Mauer as a senior completed 178 of 288 passes for 3,022 yards and 41 TDs.
Mauer was elected into the Baseball HOF on Tuesday night:
www.espn.com
Think I've told this story a few times but it's timely tonight. Back in 2009, each of the FSU beat writers had a chance to sit down with coach Bowden on his golf cart as players were warming up for a practice before the bowl game against West Virginia. We each had 15 minutes.
I asked coach if there was one prospect FSU missed out on that could have helped to turn the program around. He thought for a minute and mentioned CJ Spiller. (No surprise there.) And then he mentioned Joe Mauer. Coach Bowden thought that highly of what Mauer looked like as a quarterback. According to an old ESPN.com story, Mauer as a senior completed 178 of 288 passes for 3,022 yards and 41 TDs.
Mauer was elected into the Baseball HOF on Tuesday night:
Hall of Fame Class of '24: Beltre, Helton, Mauer
Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, while closer Billy Wagner again fell just short with 73.8%.
