COOPERSTOWN, New York — Throngs of Twins fans walked charming Main Street in idyllic Cooperstown, New York, this weekend after making the trek — for some, a longer-than-normal journey because of airline delays and cancellations — across the country to the baseball-obsessed town.

In between playing golf, mixing and mingling with other Hall of Famers, attending to media obligations, going to parties and actually being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, you can be sure that Joe Mauer saw those fans.

The outpouring of love and appreciation they traveled to Cooperstown to bestow upon Mauer was bestowed right back upon them. Twins fans easily outnumbered other fanbases this weekend and when Mauer stepped to the stage to deliver his speech, they broke out into a “Joe, Joe, Joe,” chant.

“Obviously there was some tech problems and for them to make the trip and actually be here means a lot to me,” Mauer said. “To see the Twins’ fans and to see the Twins’ logo everywhere and No. 7s, it really does warm my heart.”

On Sunday, the St. Paul native became the fourth player from Minnesota’s capital city to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; an astounding feat, especially considering all grew up within a few mile radius of one another.

All went on to play for the Twins, but only Mauer spent his entire career in Minnesota, playing in front of his family and friends just miles away from home on a nightly basis. As a result of that, he became one of the state’s most beloved figures.

“I feel like he’s synonymous with the state. He’s been a notable representative of the state for 25 years now. Me, as a Minnesotan, not as a teammate or a friend, I’m proud of him,” former teammate Glen Perkins, who hails from the area, said. “He’s been as good of a representative to the state of Minnesota as you can have.”

That’s on the field, where Mauer, of course, put together a career of consistency that led to him being enshrined in the Hall of Fame and off it, where he remained grounded, despite being one of the best players the sport had to offer.

Those around him say the recently inducted Hall of Famer is the same kind-hearted, down-to-earth person he was when he was selected first overall as an 18-year-old out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School by the Twins in 2001.

“I think there’s a lot of people that appreciate and respect the fact that he’s remained humble, he’s remained engaged from the community perspective and has always made Minnesotans and, in this case, Twins fans and certainly those people from St. Paul very proud of the way he conducts himself,” Twins president Dave St. Peter said.

Just like Mauer grew up watching Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and Jack Morris — watching them, Mauer said, gave him a “sense of hope that it could happen,” for him as well — a generation of young Minnesotans looked up to Mauer in the same way.

It was clear when he stepped onto the field how much Mauer meant to the fans by how they reacted to him, how they cheered him on. It’s clear still, to this day, how much he means to them when they show up in bunches sporting their No. 7 jerseys at Target Field, even though he retired in 2018.

And his impact is clear, too, by just how many made the trip to Cooperstown to see one of the state’s icons join baseball immortality.

Joe Mauer — the player and the man — means so much to so many in St. Paul, in Minnesota and across Twins Territory, and Sunday proved to be a celebration of that.

“For your many years of support throughout my career, with a special thank you to all who have traveled here today, you were there for my highs and lows and believed in me and our team through it all,” Mauer said to Twins fans in his speech. “Your energy and cheers brought life to our games and it was truly an honor to play at home in front of such an incredible and loyal fanbase.”

“From St. Paul to the Hall”: the Pioneer Press chronicled the careers of Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Joe Mauer, and we’ve compiled the best of our coverage into a new hardcover book that celebrates the legendary baseball legacy of Minnesota’s capital city. Order your copy of “From St. Paul to the Hall.”

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