We Interviewed Joe Mauer (And Didn't Die of Elation)

Sooze and I have never made our infatuation with Joe Mauer a secret. In fact, it was our deep rooted love of Man Muscles that landed us a brief interview with him. No, I'm not lying. If you'll recall, a couple of weeks ago, we told you about the Kemps contest where Joe and our future mother in law his mom Teresa were choosing the biggest Mauer "Fan"ily to get to watch the shoot of Joe and Teresa's newest Kemps Ice Cream commercial.

We went behind the scenes today and got to meet the lucky (and adorable!) family, David and Kathy DeGear and their four beautiful children, who won the contest AND got to ask Joe and Mama Mauer a few questions. Without further ado, we bring you the best five minutes of our lives. Enjoy!

Babes Love Baseball: Let's start with one for both of you. How did you pick the winners of the biggest "Fan"ily contest?

Teresa Mauer: [To Joe] Oooh, he's gonna throw me under the bus, aren't you?

Joe Mauer: No, actually, you [To Teresa] pretty much picked it. And she did a great job doing it.

Teresa Mauer: It was hard! There were a lot of great families that sent in. But the bottom line, the one thing that stood out was that they were not only Joe fans, but also Twins fans.

BLB: They were really cute!

TM: They were. Great family.

BLB: [To Joe] Does it kind of creep you out a little bit that there are so many people obsessed with you? And my [Marea's] son's middle name is Joseph, after you, so I'll admit that I'm not exempt from this question.

JM: [laughs] Um, a little bit. Sometimes I get taken aback a little. You know, I love to play baseball, that's what I do. And sometimes I get taken aback by all of the attention that I get.

BLB: So, Teresa, we can imagine that YOU get bombarded because you're the most famous baseball mom out there. Do you find that people come up to you when you're just grocery shopping and say "Oh, you're Joe Mauer's mom!"?

TM: Yeah! They'll say "I love the ice cream!" or "Love the commercials!" or "How many times did it take for [Joe] to catch it?" and I'll say "Well of course he caught every one!" [laughs] Yeah, that's been different, it's been fun.



BLB: And then Joe, since you're one of the most popular players in Major League Baseball, do you find that when you're not in Twins Territory, say, in New York, or other cities, that you get noticed by people?

JM: A little bit. Obviously back here you get noticed a lot more. I try to fly under the radar the best I can. Sometimes it's not possible, but other places it's a little bit easier.

BLB: Being Minnesotan, you have to love the outdoors. Where is your favorite fishing spot as a family? Or with you and your buddies?

TM: We can't tell you that!

BLB: You don't want us rowing up on the lake with binoculars?

TM: [laughs] No, all the fish will be gone if we tell!

JM: Really anywhere we can get out on the water, especially during the summer. My dad's a big ice fisherman, I'll go every once in a while. I like the summer fishing a lot better.

TM: You're getting more into bass fishing.

JM: Yeah.

TM: I like to pan fish, because my attention span isn't that long anymore. [laughs] It's more fun.



BLB: So, Joe, now that Justin [Morneau]'s a dad, do you get to spend a lot of time with him outside of the ballpark?

JM: I do. Yeah, he's really fun to watch, he's a great dad. We've had some barbecues down at spring training, we've gotten to see Evelyn -

TM: She's a real doll.

JM: Yeah, he's a real proud dad, and he's doing a great job.

At this point, the person running the behind the scenes show informs us that we only have time for one more question. Panic ensues, as we have about 10 more we wanted to ask.

BLB: [To Joe] Are you aware that your nickname is "Man Muscles"?

JM: No, I wasn't [laughs]

BLB: We refer to you a lot as "Man Muscles", but it came from Torii Hunter, actually.

JM: Oh, you know what? I think I remember that. It was in my first couple of years.

BLB: Yes, he said "What's he going to do when he gets his man muscles?".

JM: [laughs] That's great.


Had we been given the opportunity, we would have asked him so many more questions. And, we had about 35 phone numbers we were told to give to him. So, we are sorry ladies for not being able to pass those along for you!