Photo: Colorado Rockies
St. Marys, Ont. – For the third time in his major league career, New Westminster, B.C., native Justin Morneau will be honoured with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award.
The St. Marys, Ont.-based shrine presents this honour annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.
Morneau, who captured the National League batting title in his first season with the Colorado Rockies, becomes the fourth player to win the award three times, joining Maple Ridge, B.C., native Larry Walker (a nine-time winner), Etobicoke, Ont., native Joey Votto (four-time winner) and Trail, B.C., native Jason Bay, a three-time recipient.
“Justin Morneau represents everything you want in an ambassador for the game of baseball and for the sport in our country,” said Scott Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations. “Yes, he’s a batting champion and a Gold Glove finalist on the field, but he’s also a passionate supporter of the national program and he quietly and selflessly supports a long list of charities. We’re proud to present this award to such a great all-around player and humanitarian.”
After 10 successful seasons with the Minnesota Twins and a little over a month with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Morneau signed with the Rockies and enjoyed an outstanding comeback season. The left-handed hitting first baseman, who won the American League MVP Award in 2006, secured his first batting title (.319) in 2014. In doing so, he became only the third Canadian (along with Walker and Tip O’Neill) to accomplish that feat.
A participant in this year’s Home Run Derby at the all-star game, Morneau led Canadian big leaguers in most offensive categories and was second amongst National League first basemen in slugging percentage (.496) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.860). His offensive output catapulted him into second place amongst Canadians in several all-time offensive categories, including hits, RBI, doubles and total bases.
On top of his offensive accomplishments, Morneau was a Gold Glove finalist, a NL Comeback Player of the Year nominee and he finished 24th in NL MVP voting. He was also selected to suit up for a post-season all-star team that travelled to Japan.
“I would like to start by saying thank you for being named the winner of the 2014 Tip O’Neill Award. With the high quality of Canadian baseball and softball players that now hail from Canada, it is truly one of the great honours of my career,” said Morneau. “To be mentioned amongst the great Canadian players in 2014, and to ultimately win the Tip O’Neill award is very special. When you look at the list of past winners, it is truly humbling to be listed with them again. I would also like to thank the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for not only this award, but also for doing such a great job of promoting and developing the game of baseball in Canada.”
Morneau will be presented with the award in a ceremony at a Rockies home game during the 2015 season.
