April 5, 2004: In Joe Mauer’s debut, Twins win on walk-off home run by Shannon Stewart

The consensus top talent in the 2001 amateur draft was University of Southern California right-hander Mark Prior.1 But the Minnesota Twins, who had the first overall pick, did not want to meet Prior’s contractual demands. That left the Twins choosing among other candidates, including Georgia Tech third baseman Mark Teixeira and Middle Tennessee State right-hander Dewon Brazelton.

Ultimately, the Twins selected St. Paul native Joe Mauer. A phenomenal high-school athlete, he starred in football, basketball, and baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall.2 Mauer struck out only once in high school. And in his senior year, he was selected as USA Today’s High School Player of the Year in both football and baseball.

Mauer joined Danny Goodwin (Chicago White Sox, 1971) and David Clyde (Texas Rangers, 1973) as players chosen by their home-state teams with the number-one pick.3 After making the selection on draft day, the Twins held a press conference at Cretin-Derham Hall with Mauer and general manager Terry Ryan. “I’m just real excited,” said Mauer. “It started to set in when I came in and saw all of [the media] in here. It’s unbelievable. I think every kid wants to grow up and be a baseball player. I followed Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett [growing up]. … It’s unbelievable to look down and see ‘Twins’ down there.”4

Mauer chose to sign with the Twins for $5 million rather than play quarterback at Florida State University for coach Bobby Bowden. Mauer reported to Elizabethton, Tennessee, for rookie ball, and spent 2002 and 2003 playing for the minor-league Quad Cities River Bandits, Fort Myers Miracle, and New Britain Rock Cats. He was named Baseball America’s top prospect entering 2004. Sensing that they had a future star on their hands, the Twins traded All-Star starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants in November 2003 for pitchers Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano, and Joe Nathan with the intent to make Mauer their everyday catcher in 2004. Even for a first overall pick, Mauer had a meteoric rise; he played only 277 minor-league games before his big-league debut.

The Twins entered 2004 looking for their third consecutive American League Central Division title. In 2002 they made the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1991. After an uneven first half in 2003, the Twins found themselves 7½ games behind the surprising Kansas City Royals in mid-July. Looking for a spark, Minnesota acquired left fielder Shannon Stewart from Toronto. Stewart’s arrival led to a turnaround as the Twins stormed back to capture the division. In only 65 games with Minnesota, Stewart slashed .322/.384/.470 and posted 2.6 Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball Reference en route to finishing fourth in AL MVP voting behind Álex Rodriguez, Carlos Delgado, and Jorge Posada.5 Stewart entered free agency after the 2003 season but re-signed with the Twins on a three-year, $18 million deal.6

The Opening Day matchup pitted Minnesota’s Brad Radke against Cleveland’s CC Sabathia. The 31-year-old Radke, who had been a steady presence at the top of the Twins’ rotation for nearly a decade, earned his eighth Opening Day assignment. The 23-year-old Sabathia, meanwhile, had made his first All-Star team in 2003 and had established himself as one of baseball’s best young pitchers. A huge crowd of 49,584 piled into the Metrodome to catch the opener and Mauer’s debut. Among the crowd were Mauer’s parents Jake and Teresa, St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.7 

Cleveland opened the scoring in the second. First baseman Ben Broussard reached first on an infield single. Ex-Twin Casey Blake was safe when Twins shortstop Cristian Guzmán muffed a groundball. Broussard advanced to third on a double play and scored on a wild pitch before Cleveland’s designated hitter, Travis Hafner, smashed an opposite-field home run to make it 2-0. In the top of the third, Cleveland right fielder Jody Gerut hit a solo homer to make it 3-0.

Mauer’s first big-league plate appearance came leading off the bottom of the third. Twins fans greeted him with a partial standing ovation when he came up to bat, and a second ovation a few moments later as he reached first on a four-pitch walk by Sabathia.8 Sabathia, however, overwhelmed the Twins on this day. After Minnesota got two hits in the first inning, Sabathia did not give up another hit over his final 6⅓ innings. He went seven scoreless innings, striking out nine. “[He was n]asty,” said Minnesota first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz afterward. “Best I’ve ever seen him. … If he pitches anywhere close to that this year, you might be looking at the Cy Young winner.”9

Leading 4-0 after Hafner hit his second solo home run leading off the sixth, Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge went to his bullpen to start the bottom of the eighth. “When we saw [Cleveland] take [Sabathia] out, we said, ‘Thank you, thank you,” said Twins center fielder Torii Hunter. “Then we knew we at least had a chance.”10 After the game, Wedge told reporters, “[T]hat’s the best I’ve ever seen [Sabathia] pitch, but I couldn’t let him go any farther at this point of the year.”11

The Cleveland bullpen quickly faltered. Mauer opened the frame with a walk off José Jiménez. Guzmán singled to center and advanced Mauer to third. Jiménez handled Stewart’s comebacker as Guzmán advanced to second. With runners on second and third and one out, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pinch-hit Mike Ryan for Luis Rivas. Wedge responded accordingly, bringing in left-hander Scott Stewart, only for Gardenhire to bat Michael Cuddyer in place of Ryan. Gardenhire won the managerial back-and-forth when Cuddyer singled up the middle to make it 4-2.

Mientkiewicz singled, sending Cuddyer to third. With two strikes, third baseman Corey Koskie hit a ground-rule double to make it 4-3. That was all for Scott Stewart, who retired none of the three batters he faced. Wedge turned to Rafael Betancourt to face Hunter, who smacked the second offering from Betancourt into left field to score Koskie and tie the game, 4-4. Sabathia could only watch from the trainer’s room. “It was tough,” he said later.12

With only one out and men at the corners, Betancourt escaped by striking out Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy.

After J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, Mauer got his first big-league hit, off Betancourt leading off the bottom half, only to be retired at second when Guzman’s attempted sacrifice was bunted back to the pitcher.13 The Twins failed to score, sending the game into extra innings.

Making his Twins debut to start the 10th, new closer Joe Nathan retired Cleveland’s first two batters on fly outs. Former Twin Matt Lawton singled.14 Up next was veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel, who doubled to right. Lawton sprinted toward home. Jones relayed to Cuddyer, who threw to Mauer. The rookie blocked the plate and tagged Lawton for the third out. “[The Twins] did a great job with that relay,” said Wedge. “With two outs, we’ve got to take a chance there. We had a legitimate chance to score.”15

In the bottom of the 11th, LeCroy walked with one out against Cleveland reliever Chad Durbin. Nick Punto ran for LeCroy, and Mauer’s single to right advanced Punto to third. Guzmán struck out, bringing up Stewart with two outs. Stewart smacked a 1-and-1 offering over the left-field fence to lift the Twins to a 7-4 victory. The man who sparked the Twins in 2003 picked up where he left off to lead Minnesota to its first victory of 2004 and add to his growing legend in Twins Territory.

“In baseball, you fail seven of 10 times, at least. But you have to think of it as if you’re Michael Jordan. You want to have the ball at the end of the game, you want to take the big shot,” said Stewart after the game.16

Mauer’s debut highlighted the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s front page the next day. He went 2-for-3 with two runs, two walks, and a strikeout. “It took a few innings to get comfortable,” said Mauer. “It turned out to be a great day. It was great to get the win and to play in front of family and friends.”17 It was the culmination of a long day for Mauer, who did many interviews on his big day. “It was a little crazy all morning, going from camera to camera. I think that was a part of why I was a little nervous early on.”18

Unfortunately for Mauer, the celebration did not last long. The next day he left the game with a sprained left knee that required surgery. After a lost rookie season, Mauer played 131 games in 2005 before winning the first of three AL batting titles in 2006.19 One of the best-hitting catchers ever, Mauer starred as the face of his hometown team for over a decade, won the American League MVP in 2009, and earned selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024.20

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Joseph Wancho and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. The author also relied on coverage of Mauer from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN200404050.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2004/B04050MIN2004.htm

Notes

1 La Velle E. Neal III, “Twins Go With Joe,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 6, 2001: C1. The Cubs picked Prior second overall.

2 Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor also attended Cretin-Derham Hall. Molitor ended up managing Mauer with the Twins from 2015 to 2018.

3 In 2004 Matt Bush was selected first overall by his hometown San Diego Padres.

4 Neal, C11.

5 FanGraphs’ WAR formula had Stewart at 2.4 wins above replacement for his time with the Twins in 2003.

6 La Velle E. Neal III, “Twins Will Keep Stewart,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 8, 2003: C3.

7 Dean Spiros, “Mauer Looks Right at Home,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 6, 2004: A12.

8 Jim Souhan, “Big Day in Big Leagues,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 6, 2004: C13.

9 “Indians’ Bullpen Collapses in Loss to Twins,” Bowling Green (Ohio) Sentinel Tribune, April 6, 2004: 11.

10 Tom Elliott, “Stewart’s Blast Lifts Twins,” St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, April 6, 2004: 5D.

11 Paul Hoynes, “Pen’s Flaws Spoil C.C.’S Gem,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 6, 2004: D1.

12 Hoynes.

13 It was the first of 2,123 hits for Mauer.

14 Lawton represented the Twins at the 2000 All-Star Game in Atlanta. At the trading deadline in 2001, the Twins traded Lawton to the New York Mets for starting pitcher Rick Reed. Nathan replaced longtime Twin Eddie Guardado at the back of the Minnesota bullpen.

15 Hoynes.

16 Jim Souhan and La Velle E. Neal III, “Stewart Picks Up Where He Left Off,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 6, 2004: C13.

17 Spiros, A1.

18 Elliott.

19 Mauer hit .347 in 2006 and became the first catcher to win a batting title since Ernie Lombardi in 1942. Mauer also won batting titles in 2008 and 2009.

20 Mauer’s .306 career batting average is fourth all-time among catchers with at least 5,000 plate appearances behind Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, and Mike Piazza. Mauer’s 124 OPS+ is 12th all-time among catchers with at least 5,000 plate appearances.