Justin Morneau

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Justin Ernest Morneau (born May 15, 1981) is a retired Canadian professional baseball first baseman.

He appeared in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago White Sox.

Morneau, who was 6 foot 4 inches (1.93 m) and 220 pounds (100 kg), was drafted as a catcher by the Twins in 1999.

In the minor leagues, he converted to first base and made his MLB debut in 2003.

Morneau stayed in that role throughout his career, and in 2007, he became the first Twin since Gary Gaetti to reach 30 home runs in consecutive seasons.

He now serves as Minnesota's special assistant. Morneau, a four-time All-Star, was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP), finished runners-up for MVP in 2008, and received two Silver Slugger Awards during his injury-ridden career.

Morneau also won the 2008 Home Run Derby and the 2014 National League (NL) batting title.

Morneau also represented Canada at the 2006, 2009, 2013, and the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Early years

Morneau, George Morneau's youngest son, served as a hitting coach for numerous softball and baseball teams, childcare staff, and the store's president, among other things. Audra Chartrand, his mother, is an elementary school coach and a former fastball player. Geordie, Justin's older brother, is also a member of Geordie. His father used to play hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings and attended the Minnesota North Stars' training camp.

Morneau grew up in New Westminster, British Columbia, the historic "Royal City" near Vancouver, where he competed for the local minor league, the New Westminster Royals, and emerged as a star goaltender, playing for clubs a year older than he was. He also played baseball in the New Westminster Minor Baseball Association and the North Delta Blue Jays in B.C. Premier Baseball League: The league has the following players.

Morneau attended Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School in New Westminster, later moving to Richard McBride Elementary School, where his mother served as a tutor and mentor, and where he enrolled in a French immersion program. On the school teams, he competed in basketball and volleyball as well as ball hockey.

Morneau, a growing up, was a huge sports fan, whose favorites included hockey players Patrick Roy, Cam Neely (also a British Columbia fan), Ray Bourque, and baseball players John Olerud, Ken Griffey Jr., Larry Walker, and baseball player John Morris. The Boston Bruins was his favorite NHL team, and the Toronto Blue Jays was his favorite MLB team.

Morneau attended St. Thomas More Collegiate High School from 1994 to 1995, where he played basketball. Coaches tried to recruit him for the school's renowned football program based on his athletic abilities, but he turned down.

Morneau enrolled in New Westminster Secondary School in 1999 and graduated. While in high school, he continued to play basketball and hockey. He was named the New Westminster High School Athlete of the Year and a member of Canada's national champion baseball squads in 1997 and 1998. He was named the best hitter and catcher of Team British Columbia in 1998.

Morneau was a goaltender for the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League; he attended training camp and played in one preseason game of Major Junior hockey as a goaltender. Morneau chose his jersey number (33) for goalie Patrick Roy. He is listed as winning the Memorial Cup with the Winter Hawks in 1998. "I was the third goalie," Morneau said. A back-up plan in case of a disaster. If someone were hurt, I might have been sent out as a back-up plan. "I participated in an exhibition game and backed up some regular-season games." Morneau remained on Portland's Protected Player List until he decided to concentrate on baseball rather than hockey. Mike Williamson, the Winter Hawks assistant coach at the time, was "he was young and raw" — a big guy who was not well-covered on the internet, according to him. I recall a chat with him when recruiting him. Because not many Canadian guys end up going far and doing well in baseball, we told him he should go to hockey. "He told us otherwise."

Personal life

Morneau's parents divorced when he was seven years old. His mother is a retired teacher and his father works in a warehouse. Geordie, his older brother, has died. Justin's mother remarried in 2006, and now he has two stepsisters.

Krista Martin, a Minnesota native, was married at Landmark Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 10, 2009. The couple have five children.

Morneau bought a house in New Westminster, Quebec. His house is just four blocks from Queen's Park, where he grew up playing hockey and baseball. He'll sit down to hear the weather and traffic forecasts in Florida as a homesick minor leaguer, as well as wonder what his neighbors were up to back home.

Morneau's family is well-known in New Westminster. The city honoured Moody Park Diamond #5 on February 2, 2008, by renaming him Moody Park Diamond #5 to Justin Morneau Field. Morneau Field is just 25 kilometres (16 mi) from a field named for one of Morneau's idols, Larry Walker Field, and is located in the nearby city of Maple Ridge.

Morneau is stitious. For the majority of his career, he wore number 33 to honor his idol, former NHL goaltender Patrick Roy. He will refuse to leave the car for hockey games until the clock reads :33 minutes past the hour as a youth hockey player. (He actually appears as an Easter egg in the NHL 2K8 video game, playing his junior role as goaltender). Morneau had a bizarre routine on game days in Minnesota. Morneau stopped by Jimmy John's Gourmet Subs on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, and ordered the same sandwich as the menu: Turkey Tom with no sprouts. In the Twins' clubhouse made of one-half Mountain Dew, one-half red or orange flavor, he drank a slurpee machine later.

Morneau and his partner, Krista, founded the Justin Morneau Foundation to help underprivileged communities, with a particular focus on those where the Morneaus have lived.

Morneau sent more than 200 personalized holiday cards to Twins employees, including the Target Field grounds crew, over a four-year span (2008–2011).

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Professional career

Morneau did not attend college despite receiving numerous attractive offers from NCAA colleges, despite receiving numerous appealing college offers. In the 3rd round as the 89th overall pick of the 1999 MLB amateur draft, he was selected by the Twins as the 89th overall pick of the 89th overall pick. When playing for the Class-A Quad Cities River Bandits, he converted to first base in 2001. He hit.310 with 87 home runs, 153 RBIs, and 122 doubles in six minor league seasons.

Morneau competed for the World Teams in the 2002 and 2004 All-Star Futures Games. In a MLB Futures Game in Milwaukee, Morneau played for the World team. Morneau was voted Western League Player of the Week twice in the week from April 22-28 and July 15-21. Morneau was drafted to the Edmonton Trappers, Minnesota's Triple A squad, on September 3. Morneau led the Trappers to the PCL championship in his first Triple A season.

Morneau made his major league debut with the Twins against the Colorado Rockies on June 10, 2003, during a batting clean-up. Jason Jennings led his first at-bat off his career as a rookie, going 2 for 4 in the game. Albie Lopez, a Kansas City Royals reliever, hit his first home run a week later. Morneau hit four home runs in his rookie season, despite batting.226. He spent the majority of the season with the Rochester Red Wings, the Twins' Triple-A affiliate.

After Morneau's strong minor league numbers, the Twins cut veteran first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox and Morneau became the Twins' starting first baseman. In 240 at bats, he appeared in 74 games for the Twins, hitting 19 home runs and 58 RBIs in 280 at bats while making only three errors.

Morneau's 2005 season was a struggle as he dealt with off-season illnesses as well as being struck in the head by a pitch in April. Morneau finished second on the Twins in home runs with 22 runs and led the team with 79 RBI, although he never fully recovered from his early season setbacks.

During Morneau's first three seasons with the Twins, he wore #27. For the remainder of his Twins career, starting in 2006, he wore #33. Morneau's bats career in the months of June, July, and August exploded offensively, boosting his batting average to nearly 50 points in June after starting the month at.240. In July, he climbed his average by 33 points in July and after June finished near the top of the American League leaderboard in batting average, home runs, and RBI. Morneau, the first Twin to reach 30 home runs in a single season, on August 9, was the first Twin since 1987. He finished the season with a.321 (6th in AL) and a slugging.559 (6th in AL) with 34 home runs and 130 RBI. He was second in RBIs and tied Larry Walker's 1997 total for the most RBIs in a season by a Canadian. He received the American League Silver Slugger Award for first basemen for his hitting. The Twins earned their fourth division championship in five years thanks to his efforts.

Morneau was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award in a close vote over Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees on November 21, 2006, becoming only the fourth player in Twins history (after Zoilo Versalles, Harmon Killebrew, and Rod Carew) to be honoured. He became the first Canadian to win the AL MVP Award and the second Canadian to win a major league MVP award (Larry Walker was the first to win the NL MVP award in 1997; Walker and Morneau were joined in 2010 by Joey Votto).

Morneau played in 157 games in 2007, totaling 31 home runs. For the first time in his career, Morneau was named Player of the Month in the American League in May 2007. Morneau appeared on the front page of the arcade baseball video game The Bigs in Canadian stores and in Best Buy stores in the United States. Morneau was added to the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game roster for the first time in 2007. For the first time, he competed in the 2007 State Farm Home Run Derby. In the first round, he came up first and hit 4 home runs before tying with Albert Pujols. In a tie-off, he was eventually disqualified with just one homer on 5 out of 5 attempts. Pujols qualified to the 2nd round with two homers. Morneau played against the Chicago White Sox in his first home run game in his career. He was single, a 2-runter, and a 3-run homer. He had an at bat to try for his fourth home run but his bat was beaten, and he crashed out to deep left field.

Morneau committed to a six-year deal worth $80 million, which was the longest and richest contract in Minnesota Twins history until 2010, when teammate Joe Mauer agreed to an 8-year, $184 million deal. Morneau continued his play with his new deal, playing in all 162 of the Twins' games and finishing.300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBI.

Morneau scored 5 hits in a game on July 10, 2008, when the visiting Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers. In a 7-(6) extra-innings victory, he had to dogged home run to win the day 5 for 5 with a walk. In the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Morneau was named as a reserve for the American League.

Morneau won the 2008 Home Run Derby, defeating Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. He became the first Canadian to win the Home Run Derby. Morneau scored the winning run for the American League in the MLB All Star Game at Yankee Stadium on a sacrifice fly to right field off Michael Young's baton. Morneau received the Lionel Conacher Award as the Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year, alongside Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker as the only Major League Baseball players to win the award. Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP ballot, while Kevin Youkilis came in third, and Morneau came in second.

Morneau scored 30 home runs and was selected as a reserve position player at first base for the 2009 All Star Game. Morneau was officially diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back after a long wait; he missed the remainder of the 2009 season and the playoffs.

Morneau got off to a promising start in the 2010 season, registering a career high.345 on-base percentage and a.617 slugging percentage at the All-Star break, off to a good start in the 2010 season. He was voted in by the fans to start the 2010 All-Star Game at first base, but he had to cancel after suffering a concussion on July 7.

Morneau missed the remainder of the 2010 regular season due to post-concussion syndrome. Morneau said he was finally pain-free after the Twins clinched the American League Central Division championship. Morneau said he would not be able to play for the ALDS, but that if the Twins advance, he'd like to be in the ALCS. Morneau would not return for the 2010 season, regardless of how far the team went in the postseason, the Twins announced on October 4, 2010.

Morneau's season-ending concussion in the previous season was much appreciated by the Twins in 2011. He was in the starting line-up against the Toronto Blue Jays on Opening Day. This did not last long, though he missed five games with the flu in April and a few more in June with a sore wrist. In June, he underwent neck surgery to fix pinched nerves in his neck, causing him to miss two months from mid-June to mid-August. He missed two games due to a bruised foot just ten days later. Morneau sustained a left shoulder injury on August 29, 2011 that would result in mild concussion-like symptoms. Morneau was forced to miss the remainder of the season due to these symptoms. Morneau played in just 60 games in 2011, with just 60 hits in those games, four of which were home runs. He batted a meager.227 with 19 walks and 30 RBI. The previous three seasons were all career lows, despite the fact that he was rookie season.

Morneau, the Twins' everyday first baseman, returned to the Twins in 2012. Morneau finished the season with a.257 batting average, 19 home runs, and 77 RBI.

Morneau appeared in 127 games for the Twins in 2013, before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 31. With 17 home runs and 74 RBI, he had almost identical stats to his 2012 total figures, batting.259 with 17 home runs and 74 RBI.

Morneau was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Alex Presley and a player who would be named later on August 31, 2013. Duke Welker was later announced on October 5, 2013. He made his Pirates debut on September 1, 2013, starting first base and wearing number 66. Morneau wore number 33 in Minnesota, but he opted to double it in Pittsburgh due to the fact that number 33 was withdrawn in honor of Honus Wagner.

Morneau reached a two-year, $14 million contract with the Colorado Rockies on December 3, 2013 after a physical. On December 13, the agreement was signed. Morneau was the first Rockies player to wear #33 after Larry Walker's name was out of circulation, but not for Walker, who was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004. Morneau continued to have a fruitful year in Colorado, batting.319 on the season and winning the National League batting championship. In 49 games with the Rockies in 2015, Morneau had a.310 batting average.

Morneau and the Chicago White Sox announced on June 9, 2016, a one-year, $1 million deal. He was immediately put on the 15-day disabled list and was expected to return after the All-Star break. Morneau decided to wear number 44 instead of Zach Duke's number 33.

Morneau's batting average (4603-for-5699) was 772 runs, 349 triples, 247 home runs, 985 bases on balls,.348 on-base percentage, and.481 slugging percentage in 1545 games over 14 seasons. He had a.996 fielding percentage at first base for his entire career. He was batting.302 (16-for-53) in 13 games, with 8 runs, 4 doubles, 2 home runs, and 4 RBI.

When it was announced on November 22, 2021, Morneau was included on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2022.

International career

Morneau was selected for the Canada national baseball team at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2009 World Baseball Classic, 2013 World Baseball Classic, 2017 World Baseball Classic, and 2019 WBSC Premier12.

Morneau was also selected for the MLB All-Stars at the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

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