All Star Game!

In honor of today's All Star Game (the 83rd, in fact!), I wanted to take a look back at other All Star Games.  They're a fun chance for baseball players to get together and have fun during these long summer days of baseball.

The All-Star games, otherwise known as the "Mid-summer Classic" are a nice honor for many players, Joe Mauer included.  Joe Mauer has been an All-Star pick a whopping four times!  The first was in 2006 followed by stints in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

The top player at the All Star Game earns a Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.  This is like an honor on top of an honor and the recipient is clearly a top notch major league baseball player!  Past recipients include Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Ken Griffey, Sr., Cal Ripken, Jr., and Alfonso Soriano.  In 2011, the winner was Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The All Star Game is held in a variety of venues.  In 2011, it was at Chase Field in Arizona; this year it will be at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.  Tune in to see some top-notch athletes compete in yet another year of great All Star baseball action!

Minnesota Twins versus Texas Rangers

Today marks the third game between the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers.  If you're like me, this means that you're ready for new knowledge about the opposing team.  To keep today's game fresh, here are a few fun facts about the Texas Rangers that will help enrich your game watching experience!

*  The Texas Rangers baseball team was established in 1961 and have based in Arlington since 1972.

*  Their stadium, the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (real creative name...) seats 48,194.

*  The Texas Rangers' CEO and President is Nolan Ryan.

*  The Texas Rangers are frequently known as "The Blue Crew."

*  George W. Bush was part owner of the team from 1989-1994 and is still a huge fan to this day.  In fact, his love of baseball is featured in the movie W which takes a look at his adult years, struggles, and triumphs.

These games may be away, but there are plenty of home games up ahead by the end of this week!  Get tickets today!

Joe Mauer: Football star

If only all of us were so lucky that we had two successful pro careers lined up and ready to go!  Joe Mauer has lived that experience.  His athletic prowess in baseball and football led to what must have been a difficult decision: should he head to the MLB draft out of high school or should be go play college football?

As a junior, Joe Mauer was the Cretin Derham Hall starter.  He continued again as a senior and by the end this two year stint, he had tallied 73 touchdowns with a senior year 62% completion total.

National outlets soon took notice.  In 2000, Joe Mauer made it into Sport Illustrated as a quarterback for the Cretin Derham Hall football team.  He was named as the 2001 Gatorade National Player of the Year in both football and baseball!  He was also an All-American according to Reebok and ESPN.

Florida State University soon came knocking.  They offered a scholarship for Joe Mauer to come play college football, but we know what happened next.  Joe Mauer instead entered the MLB draft and was 2001 draft number one pick who went straight for the Minnesota Twins.  Everything worked out beautifully for Joe Mauer and I for one am glad that he picked his hometown team instead of a college football team from Florida.  Someday he can go back and earn that college diploma, but for now he's right where he should be: the Minnesota Twins baseball team.

Happy Fourth of July!

With a patriotic day here, what better way to celebrate than by watching America's favorite sport: baseball!  The Minnesota Twins take on the Detroit Tigers today at 6:05 p.m.  Unfortunately the game is in Detroit, but you can catch it on TV (or maybe use this as an excuse to travel to Michigan; buy tickets now!).

I'll be up at the cabin, listening to the game on the radio if we get reception (and, I guess, if it's broadcast).  Hopefully Joe Mauer is able to catch a parade and see some fireworks later tonight.  It's not the fourth without those things!


Good luck to the Minnesota Twins today.  Go make our fourth of July memorable with a win over the Detroit Tigers tonight!

Video Games and Joe Mauer

I have never been much for video games apart from Duck Hunt, but so many guys I know are obsessed.  The headsets, the online chats, the hours of zombie like stares...it's crazy.

Joe Mauer is of that same gamer generation, but he was able to take it a step farther with an appearance in some computer/video games.  The MLB 10 and 11 games for PlayStation featured Joe Mauer on both covers, a huge honor for any baseball player!

The game itself worked its way into popular culture when Minnesota Twins announcer Dick Bremer used the official game tagline and said, "Well played, Mauer."  Is Dick Bremer a closet video gamer?!

Joe Mauer's athletic catch of a foul ball even made the MLB 11 video game introduction was it shows clips of Joe Mauer in all his best plays.

Back in 2009, Joe Mauer was an option of MLB players in the Backyard Baseball game, so that marks three years of video game appearances.  These will certainly be amazing memorabilia for Joe Mauer to show his future children someday when video games are archaic and virtual reality is the new thing!