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2009 – St. Paul native Joe Mauer became the fifth Twins player to win the MVP Award, behind Zoilo Versalles (1965), Harmon Killebrew (1969), Rod Carew (1977) and Justin Morneau (2006). Mauer, 26, is the sixth catcher in American League history to win the MVP and only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award. A couple of weeks ago, Mauer won the Players Choice Award for A.L. Outstanding Player, an important award for players because it’s voted on by their peers. Mauer, who missed all of April because of injury, came back to play 138 of the Twins final 141 games and lead the Twins to an improbable comeback as they overtook the Detroit Tigers to win the A.L. Central. The Gold Glove catcher lead the American League in batting average (.365), On-Base Percentage (.444), Slugging Percentage (.587) and On-Base + Slugging Percentage (1.031). It’s the first time a player has led in all three of those key categories in nearly 30 years.
