Morneau's Canadian ball hall nod continues the year of 33
North Delta Blue Jays and Junior National Team alum Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
February 4, 2020
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
It’s the year of 33 in the Canadian baseball world.
Two weeks ago, Maple Ridge, B.C., native Larry Walker, who wore the No. 33 religiously, became the second Canadian elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and on Tuesday, fellow double-three enthusiast and B.C. native, Justin Morneau, headlined a list of four new Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees.
“He [Walker] actually texted me this morning when he saw the press release go out that I was going into Canadian Hall of Fame. So he sent me a text that said, ‘Congratulations! Looks like you’ve got to get your speech ready too,’” said Morneau in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame conference call on Tuesday afternoon. “So that was pretty cool to see and that kind of states the significance of the [Canadian] Hall of Fame and what it means to Canadian baseball players.”
From one No. 33 to another, Walker has handed the torch as leader and mentor of up-and-coming professional Canadian players to Morneau over the years. And Morneau has gladly taken on that role largely because he knows how important it was to have Walker in his corner early in his career.
“Any time you’re in the minor leagues and someone you have never met sends you a box of bats [like Walker did], it’s pretty significant. An MVP doesn’t really have to concern himself with a guy who is in double-A or wherever you’re at. And he [Larry} was able to do that,” said Morneau in Tuesday’s call.
“And I think that showed me that the Canadian baseball community is a very tightknit community. . . He just showed me how important it is to look out for other Canadians and Corey Koskie did the same thing. Having a guy the stature of Larry Walker reach out to you and say, ‘Hey, if you ever need anything let me know.’ And I did lean on him more than once going through different situations.”
Walker’s support was a key reason that Morneau put together an outstanding 14-season major league career, one that earned him election to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Morneau, along with former Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud, ex-Blue Jays set-up man Duane Ward and longtime Montreal Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet, will be inducted into the Canadian ball shrine in a ceremony on June 20 in St. Marys, Ont.
“It’s not something you ever think would happen or dream would happen,” said Morneau of his upcoming induction. “When you start your career, I think your goal is just to make it to the major leagues and once you get there you try and stick as long as you can. And you do the best you can to be part of a winning team. And when stuff like this happens, it’s just so humbling to be going in with the inductees this year, and also with everyone that’s in the Hall. It’s really a special place for Canadian baseball.”
Born in New Westminster, B.C., in 1981, Morneau grew up when the Toronto Blue Jays were in the glory years, winning World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.
“I think other than my parents there were two major influences on my baseball career: Larry Walker and the Toronto Blue Jays, especially in 1992 and 1993. You know if John [Olerud] and Duane [Ward] hadn’t done what they did, I’m not sure I would’ve leaned towards baseball, away from hockey,” said Morneau on Tuesday’s call. “I had the Blue Jays and I had Larry Walker coming along at the same time. So these guys [Olerud and Ward] have had as much impact on Canadian baseball as anybody, so I’m glad to be able to go in with them.”
As a teenager, Morneau honed his skills with the North Delta Blue Jays of the B.C. Premier Baseball League and the Canadian Junior National Team. One of his favourite players was Olerud.
“He was one of the three swings that I imitated in my backyard. It was Griffey, Olerud and Walker, they were the three left-handed swings that I watched the most, and obviously I had the chance to watch John the most,” explained Morneau. “On the West Coast, I would come home from school and the games would be on almost every day. So I watched him as much as I watched anybody else in baseball growing up.”
Studying Olerud and Walker paid off as Morneau impressed scouts with his bat and he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1999 MLB draft. The left-handed hitting Canuck began his minor league career as a catcher but was converted into a first baseman in 2000 in Rookie ball. Over parts of five minor league campaigns, he developed into a top prospect, earning invitations to two MLB Futures Games (2002, 2004), before he was called up to make his major league debut with the Twins on June 10, 2003.
Morneau would spend the next decade with the Twins and evolve into one of the American League’s most feared sluggers. Between 2003 and 2013, he was a four-time all-star (2007 to 2010), won two Silver Slugger awards (2006, 2008), had four 100-RBI seasons - including tying Larry Walker’s single-season Canadian record with 130 RBIs in 2006 - and in that same season, he became the first – and still only – Canadian to be named American League MVP. In 2008, he also became the first – and still only – Canadian to win the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game.
And to achieve all of this, he employed a swing much like Olerud’s.
“We played the Yankees in the playoffs in ’04, I want to say, and there was a comparison [on the TV broadcast]. They had our swings side by side and it was the first time I had ever seen them next to each other, but they were so similar – other than my one-hand finish and his two-hand finish,” said Morneau on Tuesday. “It was amazing that the swing that I imitated growing up was the swing that I developed the most closely too.”
On August 31, 2013, Morneau was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he helped lead the club to its first postseason appearance since 1992. Following that season, Morneau signed with the Colorado Rockies and proceeded to bat .319 and win the National League batting title to become just the second Canadian (along with Walker) to accomplish that feat. He suited up for part of one more season with the Rockies before playing his final big league campaign with the Chicago White Sox in 2016.
Throughout his career, Morneau consistently answered the call for the Canadian national team. After suiting up for the Junior National Team in 1999, he competed for the senior squad at the IBAF Baseball World Cup in 2001, at an Olympic Qualifier in 2003 and in all four World Baseball Classics. His name was added to Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence in 2010.
In all, Morneau played in parts of 14 big league seasons and he ranks in the top five among Canadian major leaguers in many all-time offensive statistical categories, including second in RBIs (985), third in hits (1,603), doubles (349) and total bases (2,739) and fourth in home runs (247). Over the course of his career, Morneau was also named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award, as top Canadian player, three times (2006, 2008, 2014).
In recent years, Morneau has served as a part-time analyst on Twins’ broadcasts for Fox Sports North and as an analyst on the Sportsnet Central panel for the network’s World Series coverage.
The New Westminster, B.C., native has also been very active in charitable endeavors. Each year in Minneapolis, he spearheads a winter coat drive for the Salvation Army. That coat drive has collected over 40,000 coats from generous donors over the past 10 years. He has also helped organize fundraisers for juvenile arthritis to raise awareness about a disease his niece, Maddie, is fighting. As part of his efforts for that cause, he hosted an annual casino night that raised over a $1 million for the arthritis foundation and helped send kids to Camp Cambria, a camp for kids with arthritis. Morneau has also supported the United Heroes League, an organization that provides sports equipment and registration fees for children in military families. He is the host representative of an ice fishing tournament for United Heroes League on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota.
For his off-field efforts, he was named the Twins’ Carl R. Pohlad Award winner for outstanding community involvement in 2009 and he’s a four-time winner of the team’s Bob Allison Award (2008, 2012-13, 2015), which is handed out to a player who exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit and leadership on and off the field.
Morneau is grateful for his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame nod.
“I am looking forward to being in St. Marys this summer to celebrate with my fellow inductees in person,” he said in a statement. “Thank you to the voters and the Hall for this incredible honour, and all that the Hall does for the game of baseball in Canada.”