He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago White Sox.

Morneau held that position throughout his career and in 2007 became the first Twin since Gary Gaetti in 1987–1988 to hit 30 home runs in consecutive seasons.

Additionally, Morneau won the 2008 Home Run Derby and the 2014 National League (NL) batting title.

His father once played hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings and attended the training camp of the Minnesota North Stars.

[1] Morneau grew up in New Westminster, British Columbia,[2] the historic "Royal City", adjacent to Vancouver, where he played hockey for the local minor team, the New Westminster Royals, and emerged as a star goaltender, playing for teams a year older than he was.

Growing up, Morneau was an avid sports fan, whose favourite athletes included hockey players Patrick Roy, Cam Neely (also a native of British Columbia), and Ray Bourque; and baseball players John Olerud, Ken Griffey Jr., Jack Morris and Larry Walker.

Coaches approached him to play for the school's famed football program, based on his athletic ability, but he declined.

He was named the New Westminster High School Athlete of the year and was a member of Canadian national champion baseball teams in 1997 and 1998.

[2] Morneau remained on Portland's Protected Player List until he decided to focus on baseball instead of hockey.

According to Winter Hawks assistant coach at the time, Mike Williamson, "He was young and raw — a big guy who covered a lot of the net.

He made his first Triple-A appearance in 2003 with the Twins' new affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, and finished the season batting .268 with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in 71 games.

[6] Morneau made his major league debut with the Twins on June 10, 2003 against the Colorado Rockies, batting clean-up.

[7] A week later on June 17, he hit his first career home run off Kansas City Royals reliever Albie Lopez.

[10] He appeared in 74 games for the Twins in 2004, hitting .271 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI in 280 at bats while committing just three errors.

[9] Although he never appeared to fully shake off his early season setbacks, Morneau finished first on the Twins in RBI and second in home runs.

[16] On November 21, 2006, Morneau won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in a close vote over Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, becoming only the fourth player in Twins history (after Zoilo Versalles, Harmon Killebrew, and Rod Carew) to receive the honour.

[21] Morneau produced with his new contract, as he played in all 163 of the Twins' games and hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBI.

[9] On July 10, 2008, Morneau tied a career high with five hits in a game as the Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers.

[23] Morneau won the 2008 Home Run Derby, defeating Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.

[24] Later during the All-Star event, Morneau scored the winning run for the American League in the MLB All Star Game at Yankee Stadium on a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Michael Young.

[26] Morneau finished second in the balloting for AL MVP, as Dustin Pedroia won, and Kevin Youkilis came in third.

On September 14, Morneau was officially diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back after a long slump; he missed the rest of the 2009 season and the playoffs.

[9] For the first time in his career, he was voted in by the fans to start the 2010 All-Star Game at first base, but ended up pulling out from the event after sustaining a concussion on July 7.

[9] On August 31, 2013, Morneau was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Alex Presley and a player to be named later,[34] who was later identified as Duke Welker on October 5, 2013.

[9] On December 3, 2013, Morneau agreed to a two-year, $14 million deal with the Colorado Rockies, pending a physical.

[9] Morneau was included on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2022 when it was announced on November 22, 2021.

[44] His current roles as special assistant include player drafting and development, spring training instruction, and community outreach.

As a homesick minor leaguer in Florida, he would log onto a Vancouver radio station online to hear the weather and traffic reports and wonder what his friends were up to back home.

Before each home game, Morneau stopped by the same Jimmy John's on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, and ordered the same sandwich from the menu — a Turkey Tom with no sprouts.

Over a span of four years (2008–2011), Morneau mailed more than 200 personalized holiday gifts to Twins employees, including the Target Field grounds crew.