ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Twins Catcher Joe Mauer is giving back to the neighborhood where he first started to play ball.

Mauer and Kemps Ice Cream are teaming up to restore youth baseball fields across Minnesota in the Local Heroes for Local Fields program.

They started today with Edgcumbe Baseball Field in St. Paul, where Joe played as a kid.

The baseball star says playing youth baseball taught him important lifelong lessons.

“To be able to come back and help improve the fields that I played on as a kid is definitely a goof feeling for me. They’ve done a great job here, so it’s exciting,” said Mauer.

St. Paul-based Kemps is donating 10 cents for every Joe Mauer milk and ice cream product sold to Local Heroes for Local Fields through September 30.