Minnesota Twins great Justin Morneau headlines the 2020 Canadian Hall of Fame class after stellar career and four appearances in the WBC for Canada.
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame announced their 2020 class and the headliner was former Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau. John Olerud, Duane Ward, and former Expos announcer Jacques Doucet were also inducted.
Justin Morneau scratched out a solid career over fourteen years in the majors. He is best known for his smooth stroke from the left side of the plate. Over the course of eleven seasons with the Twins, Morneau was a four time All-Star and won a Most Valuable Player award in 2006.
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His 2008 season ended in him finishing second in the MVP race to Dustin Pedroia. For a four year stretch from 2006-2010 Morneau was good for 30 home runs, over 100 runs batted in, and a .300 average. Morneau put up solid offensive numbers while playing a very good first base for the Twins.
After being traded to the Pirates during the 2013 season Morneau signed a free agent contract with the Colorado Rockies in 2014 and led the National League with a .319 batting average. This would prove to be the last healthy and productive season of his career.
Morneau suffered a head injury while diving for a hit while playing first base and concussion symptoms limited him to just 49 games the following year with the Rockies. He ended his career with the Chicago White Sox in 2016 when he suffered another concussion, after an elbow injury had already sidelined him earlier in the year.
Born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Morneau is one of the best Canadian baseball players of all time. The Canadian born star also manned first base for his country at each of the World Baseball Classics in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017.
Growing up, Morneau was a big Larry Walker fan as he was also from the province of British Columbia. Walker was a 2009 inductee to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and 2020 inductee of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.