Nov 12, 2018 4 min read

Twins’ Mauer retires

Yes, the narrative of Joe Mauer’s career was missing a championship chapter. That plot line stalled for a few years while the star was set back by injuries.

Still, this story of the Minnesota native with the smooth left-handed swing who played for the Twins the entire time sure was made for a movie.

Six weeks after Mauer symbolically donned his catcher’s gear for one last crouch behind the plate in the final inning of the season, Mauer formalized his goodbye to the game at a tear-filled-yet-cheerful news conference to wrap up a 15-year major league career at 35.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have the personal accolades, and I really do believe that’s a byproduct of how the team does, and those things just come along with it,” Mauer said. “But I’d want to be known as a great teammate, a great person, and a guy who gave it everything he had.”

Even the closing credits were memorable.

Mauer carefully flipped through a stack of note cards over a 15-minute thank-you on Monday to the people he’s closest to with a stack of tissues in front of him on the podium. He needed them immediately, when the mention of his parents, Jake and Teresa, caused his eyes to water and his voice to waver.

“You helped keep me grounded and never let me forget my roots,” said Mauer, who began honing his skills at the sandlots and rec centers of St. Paul, less than 10 miles from the big league ballparks in Minneapolis he first began playing in at age 20 to open the 2004 seasons.

That’s the same city where Hall of Fame members Jack Morris, Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield were raised. Mauer’s final tally of 2,123 hits might ultimately leave him short of the call to Cooperstown, but he was clearly on that track over the first 10 years of his career considering he hit .323 with an .873 on-base-plus-slugging percentage until a concussion in 2013 forced him to move out from behind the plate and become a first baseman. Mauer is the only American League catcher to win a batting title, a feat he accomplished three times: 2006, 2008 and 2009.

The six-time All-Star finished with a .306 lifetime average.

W&J’s Buyan honored

Following a historic 2018 season, five members of the Washington & Jefferson field hockey team have received Empire 8 All-Conference recognition, highlighted by Player of the Year Rachel Buyan.

The coaching staff was selected as the E8’s Coaching Staff of the Year.

Buyan became W&J’s first E8 Player of the Year since Jennifer Marabella received that honor following the 2010 campaign. The senior has been selected to the First Team in each of the last three seasons.

In the NBA

Nets guard Caris LeVert sustained what appeared to be a severe right leg injury during the second quarter of Brooklyn’s game against Minnesota on Monday night and was taken to a hospital.

LeVert was racing back to try to block a shot and his leg bent awkwardly when he landed. He was taken off the court on a stretcher with some teammates in tears.

The Nets said LeVert would undergo a full evaluation at the hospital and further updates would be issued as available.

• All-Star forward Jimmy Butler is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, after they and the Minnesota Timberwolves received approval from the league office on the terms of the trade that was agreed to over the weekend.

Butler and Justin Patton were traded for Philadelphia, in exchange for Robert Covington, Dario Saric and Jerryd Bayless along with a 2022 second-round draft pick.