Samantha Fischer

In wake of learning about the honorable Joe Mauer’s selection to his fifth American League All-Star team, I was inspired to share my unique run-in with Mauer at Spring Training in 2010.

After 26 hours in a car, countless hours working on our tans and a few spring training games later, my comrades and I faced the end of our journey. The day before we were to depart, we arrived at Hammond Stadium early with our eyes on one particular prize: get Mauer to sign his practice bat that I had luckily acquired only weeks before we hit the road. The bat was marked with the words, “BIG STICK JOE MAUER,” “JM 09,” and was bruised with one worn circle of paint where I assumed the wooden bat had kissed many baseballs several times.

When we arrived, the weather looked grim. To our dismay, officials decided to postpone the game. A moment of defeat came over us. Being at the stadium a number of times that week without having the opportunity for a signature made us hold onto this game as our last hope.

Some time after we decided to stick it out, the players took to the batting cages and fans looked on trying to shield themselves from the Floridian downpour that had begun. Shuttles of Twins in golf carts were taken from the stadium to the gym a short jaunt across the grounds when finally, he emerged.

I yelled after him, “JOE! I HAVE YOUR BAT!”
“How did you get that?” was his response.
Seconds later, he disappeared.

We stood in the rain for what seemed like an eternity waiting for the players to finish practicing. We knew if we stuck with the plan, we’d be able to score a sighting and signature from our native Minnesotan hero. 

After an hour or so, we were soaked to our bones. Players started moving again, and before we knew it, there he was. I yelled after his cart, “Joe! Sign my bat!” He looked at us, laughed and waved us over to the stadium. Elated, we started sprinting behind him.

When we finally reached the doors that had swallowed our Twins, they had been shut. We thought aloud, “What a tease. Why would he wave us over like that?” Then, the doors swung open and there he stood. All 6’5” and 220 pounds of him. We pushed our way to the front of the crowd that had gathered and he took to us right away.

“Thank you for coming out and signing for us, Joe!” one fan cried. 
“You can thank these girls who chased me down in the rain,” he said smiling looking down at us.
           
One photo, one signature and one friendly chat later, we were on our way. What started out as a bleak March day, ended as a day my friends and I will never forget.

“Sam, best wishes. Joe Mauer #7.”