There was a quote in the companion article that symbolizes why in my mind Joe Mauer has lost his connection with many fans. He and his wife dined at a restaurant and afterwords his server tweeted “Just served Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins! He gave me a fat tip!". After this type of positive, joyful response from a fan I could imagine Kirby having responded like this when asked about it:

 

Facial Expression – Big smile and a laugh

Quote – “Aw man, that’s hilarious! She deserved every cent of the tip, she was busting her rear covering half the restaurant.”

 

Here is how I would have hoped Joe had handled it:

 

Facial Expression – Shy smile

Quote – “That’s cool, she was a nice lady and did a good job.”

 

And here is how he actually responded:

 

Facial Expression – Rolled eyes

Quote - “Glad I left enough, I guess, you never know who’s watching.”

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/253068271.html

 

I kind of like that he was honest with the answer and did not go with some half-hearted response. I am sure the 24/7 amateur paparazzi is a bit tiring, and I think he esp. likes to keep his wife and kids in stealth mode. I am also not sure the constant social media following you whereever you are outside your home would have been a postive for Kirby.

 

Besides, I think his reaction was pretty low-key. Plus, I think he still gets a fair amount of fan interaction. It is not like he has completely shut himself away from the fans by just going to expensive restaurants or only going out with some sort of posse.

FWIW, I really enjoyed the article. Great work Mr. Souhan!

There was a quote in the companion article that symbolizes why in my mind Joe Mauer has lost his connection with many fans. He and his wife dined at a restaurant and afterwords his server tweeted “Just served Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins! He gave me a fat tip!". After this type of positive, joyful response from a fan I could imagine Kirby having responded like this when asked about it:

 

Facial Expression – Big smile and a laugh

Quote – “Aw man, that’s hilarious! She deserved every cent of the tip, she was busting her rear covering half the restaurant.”

 

Here is how I would have hoped Joe had handled it:

 

Facial Expression – Shy smile

Quote – “That’s cool, she was a nice lady and did a good job.”

 

And here is how he actually responded:

 

Facial Expression – Rolled eyes

Quote - “Glad I left enough, I guess, you never know who’s watching.”

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/253068271.html

 

His tipping habits? And people wonder why the clubhouse is so quiet.

 

I wonder how different Kirby's perception would be now if twitter had been around and people could scrutinize every little non-baseball related thing he did.

 

Tell you what. Maybe the answer to the clubhouse woes is just to kick the damn media out of it so the players can focus on baseball.

Edited March 31, 201412 yr by Willihammer

The Christians are the last people who I would expect this from. You know the thing about judge not lest you be judged? Many of the others expressed concern for him after he retired and gained 100 pounds. But that was born out of love. The other thing is, there is an unwritten rule that what happens in the clubhouse (and the clubs) stays there.

 

Exactly. I saw plenty of Kirby when he was at that state coming to what was a Northwest Athletic Club in Edina, and he always had a former Twin with him it seemed, often Gladden, but you saw a number of players attempting to support him (along with his entourage of security and "friends"). This was during and after everything blew up in the press, so it's not as if he was Mr. Popular in the public eye, but his teammates were attempting to support him in a pursuit of better health before he succumbed to the damage he'd done to his body.

Jdosen, I don't get the sense anyone here is blaming Mauer for anything. Maybe at the Strib comments section but not so much here. Which is not to say people don't take unwarranted shots at either Mauer or Puckett from time to time. It happens but it's something I'm sure professional athletes learn to live with.

I wasn't speaking of the posters here per se, but the general rube comments I seem to hear when I'm out and about.

FWIW, JOhnson has a statute at the Nationals' ballpark. DC has had a few franchises here, and the focus is on guys who played here regardless of which franchise it was. I don't know of any reason why having a statue in DC would preclude one in Mpls, but I can certainly imagine Twins' mgmt deciding that they were going to focus on guys that played in MN and exclude those who have no real ties to the area.

 

 

Washington having a statue of someone who isn't part of the teams history is more ridiculous than the Twins not having one. What I'd like to see is a plaque with the name of the great Senators, acknowledging the franchise history in Washington.

Great rumor story I heard about Puckett and his decision to resign with the Twins and not take the Boston offer was that one day he saw a dad with his little girl. The dad noticed a Twins logo and asked his daughter something along the lines of "Look theres the Twins." In which she replied "Dad that's Kirby Puckett."

 

I don't know if there is any truth to that story, but judging by his popularity at the time, and how little kids seemed to just identify with the guy; it wouldn't surprise me if that happened everyday.

 

Mauer, even being a great player and definite face of the franchise right now, doesn't seem to have that great connection with kids like the big teddy bear Puckett.

Edited April 1, 201412 yr by LC34

Great rumor story I heard about Puckett and his decision to resign with the Twins and not take the Boston offer was that one day he saw a dad with his little girl. The dad noticed a Twins logo and asked his daughter something along the lines of "Look theres the Twins." In which she replied "Dad that's Kirby Puckett."

 

I don't know if there is any truth to that story, but judging by his popularity at the time, and how little kids seemed to just identify with the guy; it wouldn't surprise me if that happened everyday.

 

Mauer, even being a great player and definite face of the franchise right now, doesn't seem to have that great connection with kids like the big teddy bear Puckett.

 

My daughters and nephews think of the Twins as Joe Mauer and Everyone Else. Ok, the youngest daughter thought Casilla was cute, but she wanted a Mauer jersey.