New West Baseball Star Justin Morneau prepares to enter Twins’ Hall of Fame

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Hockey and lacrosse might be more popular in his area, but New Westminster’s Justin Morneau is grateful for where he was born, especially now that he’s being inducted into the Minnesota Twins’ Hall of Fame.

He was picked up by the Minnesota Twins at 17, after hitting a ball so far during a tournament in Parksville, B.C. it impressed the scout.

In his Twins’ Hall of Fame speech Saturday, Morneau thanked his team mates and broader support network for helping him become the player he is today.

“I remember vividly what it was like to look up in the stands and see a Morneau jersey for the first time, even if it did have 27 on the back,” he said. “It really isn’t work if you get to show up every day and do something you love.”

He recalled a game in Kansas in 2006, when they won and enjoyed a victory lap in front of 55,000 fans — still his favourite memory to this day.

Morneau hit 276 homers, scored 772 runs and batted in 985 more over a 14-year career spent predominantly with the Twins, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. He retired from baseball in 2016 AND was already inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020 in acknowledgement of his talent — he had the highest batting average in the National League in 2014, is a four-time American League All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award twice, and was named the American League MVP in 2006.

Cavanagh Whitely from Baseball BC has a ball signed by Justin Morneau, and even met him at a baseball Canada event a few years ago. They bonded over being from New Westminster, where Whitely coaches a local little league.

Morneau’s success could give youth in the area something to look up to, he says.

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“I think it’s fantastic for the youth of New West baseball to have someone like Justin, have his name on the stadium and to know that a kid can play baseball even in the small city of New Westminster and maybe have a chance to play in the big leagues one day,” says Whitely.

“It opens kids’ eyes to the dream of what major league baseball can be. It’s someone local, someone right from here has made it big with a fantastic career in baseball, batting titles and the rest of it.”

Whitely once played against Morneau when they were growing up in Prince George, he reminisces. The first time they saw him play, he says “the legend became real.”

“It was really impressive but also really intimidating to be like, ‘Woah, look at this guy. If he doesn’t make the major leagues, who will?'”

Even then, they had a feeling he would be a baseball star. Whitely remembers Morneau hit two home runs that day.

Justin Morneau is in good company. #MNTwins Hall of Fame: pic.twitter.com/hXl885Bc9d

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 26, 2021

As a coach, he’s excited to pass down the legends about the local player to his little league.

“It’s really cool to see the kids and how excited they get when they learn a little bit about his background and his history … and it’s kind of cool to see Morneau’s name continue to be around the park and be in everyone’s mouths,” says Whitely.

“We like to hope that will equal success or at least some really good numbers at the grassroots level, and then some kids are going to start playing into the high-performance programs that I’m involved with under New West baseball as well.”

He anticipates New West baseball teams will see even greater success in the future.