

The Minnesota Twins selected Joe Mauer out of high school with the first overall pick in the 2001 MLB June Amateur Draft and it did not take him very long to earn a permanent spot on the Twins’ roster.

The St. Paul, Minnesota native spent his entire 15-year career with the Twins and was one of the greatest hitters and defenders to ever suit up for the franchise. Considered one of the best catchers of all-time, the Minnesota Wild decided to show some love to the hometown kid now that his playing career is over by honouring the 35-year-old with some fantastic pre-game jerseys.



The Wild hit the ice for their pre-game warm-up against the Philadelphia Flyers in some incredible Minnesota Twins-themed hockey jerseys and every player rocked ‘Mauer’ and No. 7 on the back of their jersey.



Glad my first tweet could be about celebrating the career of our friend Joe Mauer.



We will be wearing these sweaters during warmups tonight to honor what he did for this state. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/BrpJ27MEun — Zach Parise (@ZachParise) February 12, 2019

Look who just got Twitter 👀 and look at what the @mnwild are wearing for warmups tonight 😍! Let’s give @ZachParise a follow, #MNTwins fans. #mnwild https://t.co/8StJ7bNVj0 — Minnesota Twins (@Twins) February 12, 2019

During his MLB career, Mauer became the first catcher to win three batting titles and is the only catcher to ever win the American League batting title. The 2009 AL MVP and three-time Gold Glove Award winner hit 143 home runs, drove in 923 runs, stole 52 bases and posted a .306 batting average and .388 OBP in 6,930 at-bats over 1,858 games.

(H/T Twitter/mnwild)