Jacki :)

The end of a decorated catching career came without warning, on a Monday afternoon last August, in a makeup game against the Mets at Target Field. Joe Mauer took one foul ball off his mask, and then another the next inning, nothing unusual for his position. He played the rest of the game and flew with his Minnesota Twins teammates to Detroit.

The next day, Mauer felt tired, but it was late in the year, and that, too, seemed normal. Before the game, he took grounders at first base, where he played sometimes to get a break from the rigors of catching. His career would never be the same.

'I couldn’t even stand on my own two feet,' Mauer said. 'I had to get off the field, and all the symptoms really started to pour on.'

Mauer missed the final 39 games of the season with a concussion. It was the first he had ever endured, officially, but he believes others had gone undiagnosed. This one caused extreme sensitivity to light and noise. All he wanted, he said, was to be in a dark, quiet room.

- Tyler Kepner (New York Times)

Read the rest: "Face of the Twins Surrenders His Mask"