One Classy Canuck

Justin Morneau, that big Canadian lug, not only won the All- Star home run derby but displayed a heckuva lot of class doing it, best evidenced by his reactions to second-place finisher Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton (a Ranger no less -- ugh), set a record for the number of homers in the first round of the derby and ended up hitting more over all than Morneau did, but Morneau took two of the three individual rounds, winning the derby itself and becoming the first Twin to do so.



And he faced more than just the challenge of swinging for swat. The Doctor was actually booed by the fans at Yankee Stadium (could this be because he who beat Derek Jeter to win AL MVP in 2006?). On the flip side, Josh – who returned to basball last year after recovering froma drug addiction, and who once said it was a dream to participate in the derby – clearly had the hearts of crowd, which at one point chanted “Ham-il-ton! Ham-il-ton!”

Heck, when he received the trophy, Morneau was referred to as “Jason.”* Sheesh.

And yet, check out his comments, as reported by the Strib:

I was kind of cheering for [Hamilton] because, you know, the whole crowd's behind him. You want to see that story end in a good way.

He's the one that put on the show tonight. I think everyone will remember Josh Hamilton's 28 home runs, more than they'll remember that I won the thing. But I'm just glad I was a part of it.

When it's on ESPN Classic, I'll say, "Hey I was in that, too."

He was even humble about his invitation to the event: "They ran out of all the good players, and then they asked me," Morneau said.

That’s one classy Canuck.

* P.S. My friend Wade points out that, "It wasn't a State Farm yutz (redundant?) that called him Jason Morneau; it was Rob Manfred, executive VP of Major League Baseball." Can we say, double sheesh?