By The Canadian Press

Canadian baseball legend Justin Morneau talks Jays’ run, goalie love at world juniors

Dec 29, 2025 | 3:20 PM

MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Morneau watched the Toronto Blue Jays win back-to-back World Series titles.

A kid with a dream growing up in New Westminster, B.C., those championships in 1992 and 1993 showed him what was possible.

And after the country’s only Major League Baseball team just made another magical run before coming up millimetres short, the former Minnesota Twins first baseman sees even brighter days ahead north of the border, with passion for the sport reignited.

“Any time the Blue Jays are good, it’s good for baseball in Canada,” Morneau said Monday after watching Team Canada’s morning skate at the world junior hockey championship. “There was a wave of players — it was Jason Bay, it was Jeff Francis, it was a ton of guys right around our age — that watched the Blue Jays win the World Series, and then believed in ourselves that we could be there.”

Toronto suffered a crushing Game 7 defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the most recent Fall Classic, but one of Canada’s best-ever talents on the diamond said the full impact might not be realized for a while.

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“When you see an entire country come together to unite and cheer for something, it really is something special,” Morneau said. “Hopefully, we see that on the baseball side come out in 10, 12 years and have an influence on a lot of young kids choosing that path.”

A veteran of 1,545 games with four teams before retiring in 2016, the 44-year-old father of five also knows his way around a rink.

Hockey Canada invited Morneau, the third-string goaltender for the 1998 Memorial Cup-winning Portland Winter Hawks, to watch the world junior team go through its paces and address the group ahead of its game against Denmark.

“We used to get together when the tournaments were overseas and watch them at 3 a.m. on the West Coast,” said Morneau, who still lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region and was gifted a Canadian jersey with his familiar No. 33.

“It’s something that’s somewhat surreal. I’ve got to do a lot of really cool things in the course of my life. But being around this team and being around something that means so much to Canadians, it’s pretty special.”

Morneau said his favourite sports memory as a fan was attending the world juniors in Vancouver in 2006 when Canada won gold.

“The shared enjoyment by everybody in the building,” he said of what stuck with him. “To be a witness to that and be reminded of how great Canadian hockey is and how we come together as a nation when things are inspirational to us.”

Morneau, who wore the red Maple Leaf four times at the World Baseball Classic and does some TV work for the Twins while also doubling as an “unpaid Uber driver” for his kids, said his message to this crop of elite hockey talent was simple.

“No matter who gets to success, as long as the success is there, that’s all that really matters,” he said. “These guys are well aware of that. But once in a while, you get to hear the message from someone different, somebody new … it means so much more when you’re playing for each other.”

Team captain Porter Martone said the group was all ears.

“Canadian legend,” he said. “Different sports, but you represent your country, and all that matters is the logo on the front.”

Morneau, who eventually transitioned from catcher to first base after getting drafted by the Twins in 1999, begged his dad to let him be a hockey goalie for years before finally getting his wish at age 11.

“Something that I just absolutely loved,” said the 2006 American League MVP and career .281 hitter in the big leagues. “There’s nothing like being a goalie. The pressure and the way you can have an impact on a game, it’s so unique.”

“It was a dream I had as a kid,” he added. “Still have a love for the game of hockey.”

That passion included being part of Portland’s title-winning team — a squad that coincidentally defeated the Guelph Storm, who were led by current Canadian world junior general manager Alan Millar, in a memorable final.

“I had nothing to do with the Memorial Cup championship,” Morneau said with a smile of a roster that included future NHLers Marian Hossa, Brenden Morrow and Andrew Ference. “I got cut from an early stage of trying to make it somewhere close to this (world junior) team. The writing was on the wall for me.

“Things worked out the way they were supposed to … and now I get to come here and be a part of this.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2025.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press