M&M boys, Morneau and Mandelaro, to be inducted into Red Wings Hall of Fame

There are a few memories that stood out for Justin Morneau during the portions of two seasons he played for the Rochester Red Wings, but the best one of all actually happened down the Thruway in Buffalo.

It was at the home of the Buffalo Bisons where the Canadian-born slugging first baseman was told for the first time by Wings manager Phil Roof that he was going to the major leagues.

“We were in the cage in Buffalo underneath the stadium, and back before the dress code got as lax as it is now, Phil used to say, ‘All you guys on the 40-man roster, make sure you pack that sport coat in your suitcase,’’’ Morneau recalled, meaning the players needed to be dressed appropriately if they were on a road trip and got the call up to the Minnesota Twins.

“But the part I remember most, other than Phil telling me I was going to the big leagues, was trying to find a cell phone signal in the bottom of that stadium. I remember running around the streets of Buffalo trying to get clear to get my cell phone a signal to call my mom and dad. I drove back from Buffalo, packed my apartment, slept for about an hour and a half, and headed off to the big leagues.”

Morneau has only a small pool of Red Wings memories to choose from, but the other man who will join Morneau Tuesday night at Frontier Field for their co-induction into the Red Wings Hall of Fame has a lifetime to draw from.

Jim Mandelaro was born and raised in Rochester and attended Webster Schroeder High School and St. John Fisher College before spending more than three decades working as a sports writer for the Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union. And for 24 of those years he was the beat man who covered the Wings.

“It’s the greatest honor of my life because I did devote 24 years to covering the team and it’s my hometown team,” the 59-year-old Mandelaro said. “I mean, I started going to games in 1971, the great Bobby Grich/Don, Baylor team led by Joe Altobelli. It’s been in my DNA, so to be honored by your hometown team for something you did for so long is a great honor.”

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The induction ceremony will begin at 6:45 p.m. prior to the Wings game against the Yankees top farm club, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders.

Morneau was a third-round pick in the 1999 draft by the Twins, and he reached Triple-A Rochester in 2003, the second season of the Wings’ affiliation with Minnesota. After his first call-up to the Twins that year, he was sent back to Rochester as he was hitting just .227, but then he went back up when rosters expanded to 40 men in September.

He began 2004 in Rochester before getting called up for good in late May, and he would spend the next 10 years forging an outstanding career for the Twins. He won the 2006 AL MVP award when he set single-season career highs for homers (34) and RBI (130). He appeared in four straight All-Star games, won two Silver Slugger awards, and finished his time in Minnesota with 221 homers, 860 RBI, and an OPS of .832.

He later played for the Pirates, Rockies and White Sox, winning the 2013 NL batting title (.319) for Colorado.

With the Wings, Morneau played 143 games in 2003 and 2004 (he later had a seven-game rehab stint in 2011) and hit .288 with 34 doubles, 38 homers and 105 RBI and was named to the Triple-A All Star team in 2004.

“Anytime you get inducted into any type of Hall of Fame, it’s truly special,” said Morneau, who is also a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. “I remember when I was there Cal Ripken Jr. came in and was inducted into the Hall of Fame (2003), so it tells you the caliber and the bar that’s been set for that Hall of Fame in Rochester. It’s an honor anytime you get to be recognized anywhere you play, especially somewhere with a great baseball history like Rochester.”

Mandelaro, who left the D&C in 2015 and is now a communications officer at the University of Rochester, was inducted into the Frontier Field Walk of Fame in 2007. He is a three-time winner of the New York State Associated Press award for outstanding sports feature writing, and a two-time winner of the Rochester Press-Radio Club Sports Writer of the Year Award.

He is the sixth writer to be inducted, joining George Beahon, Bob Matthews, Scott Pitoniak, Al Weber, and Bill Koenig. He and Pitoniak are the co-authors of the two-volume Silver Seasons, the definitive history of the team.

Mandelaro saw an awful lot during his time in the press box and clubhouse, but more than the players and games, he said what he misses most, “is the camaraderie and the friends I made in the press box and with the Red Wings staff, and the diehard fans. Some of them are still good friends of mine and we share that passion. I’ll never miss going down to the clubhouse after a loss. In the minor leagues you’re the only one and it’s tough to ask people, ‘Why did you give up that home run? Why did you strike out with the bases loaded?’”

The Wings won only one championship during Mandelaro’s time covering the team, that in 1997, the year the Wings debuted at Frontier Field, the same year Japanese star pitcher Hideki Irabu of the Yankees made his Triple-A debut on the night of June 30. It’s a night, and a season, that Mandelaro will never forget.

“The greatest game is probably tied in with the greatest season and that would be ‘97 and the Hideki Irabu game,” he said. “That place was electric like I’ve never seen it; I didn’t think I was in Rochester. That year is definitely the most memorable for me. For a team to win the championship in their first year in their new park, do it at home in the final game against a Yankee farm team (Columbus). It doesn’t get better than that.”

Well, at least not until Tuesday night when his Hall of Fame plaque is presented.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Justin Morneau to be inducted into Rochester Red Wings Hall of Fame