Author: David Shama

A long time ago Ted Williams, major league baseball’s last .400 hitter, played in Minneapolis for the AAA Millers.  Now Joe Mauer plays in Minneapolis and, at age 23, in his third major league, there’s talk that some day he, too, may join the sacred .400 club, stirring memories of Williams hitting .406 in 1941. 

Earlier in the summer Mauer’s batting average had climbed to .392.   He still leads the American League in hitting but his average has come down to the .360s and perhaps by season end he will hit .350 or better. There is no whining about that, particularly when logic suggests the Twins’ sweet swinging hitter, on track to become the first catcher to lead the league in hitting, may sniff and even inhale the .400 level as he approaches and enjoys his peak years ahead.

Grandpa Jake Mauer used to watch Williams, his idol, play here in 1938.    He marveled at the fluid swing.  He’s been watching Joe since his grandson was an infant.  He insisted Joe be a left handed hitter (just like Williams, the “Splendid Splinter”) and he knew when Joe was swinging a bat at eight months his grandson was “special.”    

Jake told the Twins when they signed Joe that one day the young man will hit .400.  Grandpa is not backing off that prediction.  “I don’t think he will do it one time,” Jake said. “I think he will do it a couple times and the reason why (is) he takes care of his body. If he stays healthy there is no limit to what he can do.  You will probably see the best baseball player, hitter, catcher there has ever been in the American League.”

Tony Oliva, who won three American League batting titles and now works with Twins hitters, said it’s almost “impossible” to hit .400.  He believes hitting 60 or 70 home runs in one season is easier than batting .400.   

An interviewer initially made no mention of Mauer to Oliva when asking about the possibility of another .400 hitter.  Oliva speculated that Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, with his exceptional speed and hitting, might have a “chance” at it.  Then he thought of Mauer.

“The way I see Joe Mauer is hitting this year, you never know,” Oliva said.  “He is only 22 (23) years old.  He is going to get better yet.  I don’t know how better he will get because right now he is a great hitter.” 

Mauer said he has not thought much about .400.  He agrees with Oliva that joining the .400 club is more difficult than achieving the once sacred level of hitting 60 or more home runs.  “I just try to keep getting better and better and we’ll se what happens,” Mauer said.  

University athletic director Joel Maturi, a Notre Dame alum, tried but the Fighting Irish said no to being the Gophers’ first opponent in the new Minnesota on-campus football stadium in 2009.  Maturi said California, a program on the rise lately, may be the opponent.  The Golden Bears host Minnesota this year on September 9 in Berkeley and are considered a top 20 team, if not top 10, under coach Jeff Tedford who revived a program that for years rivaled the Gophers for futility. 

Surprisingly, Minnesota’s first game in 2009 will be on the road, not in the new stadium that won legislative approval earlier this year.  “We agreed (with State Fair officials) that the first game ever on campus would not be the same weekend of the state fair,” Maturi explained.  “And it makes a lot of sense because the traffic will be crazy.  We won’t know what to do with it.  I think after a year of the state fair and after a year of home football we will know that we can play a game during the state fair.  People will know where they are going.  Where their parking places will be.” 

Fans will be encouraged to park on the state fair grounds and then shuttled to the new stadium.  The inaugural game will be played on September 12. 

Maturi said Minnesota’s total public season ticket sales for football have been the lowest in the Big Ten Conference but news of the on-campus stadium has created additional interest.  He said about 3,000 new public season tickets have been sold.   Combined with other ticket sales including student season tickets (about 10,000 in the past), Maturi is hoping for average attendance of 50,000 in the Metrodome this year. 

The new stadium will have a capacity of 50,000, but expandable to 80,000.  The Gophers are hoping to create demand in a smaller stadium, encouraging people to buy season tickets instead of waiting to purchase single game seats, or not buying at all.   

There is some talk that if the dome is renovated, or torn down so a new stadium can be built on the site, the Vikings might play a couple of seasons in the Gopher facility.   “I think we could do something that would make it (the stadium) low 60’s (60,000 plus capacity) without doing it significantly differently, and that would help the Vikings,” Maturi said.

A visitor standing near the Twins’ clubhouse at the dome saw outfielder Michael Cuddyer, wearing tennis shoes, approach Tony Oliva.  Cuddyer showed Oliva a long screwdriver and the former Twins batting champ examined it.  Then the visitor and Oliva watched Cuddyer, who enjoys entertaining with magic tricks, push the screwdriver through the front of his shoe.  This was followed by grins, amazement and no explanations.