“I want to congratulate Justin Morneau on this well deserved honor. He is a special player, and I suspect this won’t be the last time you will hear his name mentioned when awards are being passed out.”
—All-Star Derek Jeter

“On this club, he’s Paul Bunyan.”
—Twins manager Ron Gardenhire

“Michael Cuddyer keeps telling me I’m going to be the happiest guy in the room when Morneau and Joe Mauer are playing together up here. I love watching those guys hit.”
—Former teammate Corey Koskie

“Even with this strong year Justin had, I know he can be even better. He’s still young. He’s still learning some of the nuances that veteran-type players have already grasped.”
—Twins GM Terry Ryan

“He wants to be the man. We’ve had our differences, but I always knew he could hit. It’s been a pleasure to hit behind him this year, and getting a chance to watch that swing.”
—Teammate Torii Hunter

“It was like a maturity button went off. He went from being a kid sitting at the lunch table with his shirt off in his first big-league camp to shunning any type of spotlight  If he had won that MVP as that kid who walked around with his shirt off, I think things would be a little different. I definitely give him a lot of credit because I know it took a lot of work and looking in the mirror to get to this point. He’s a great teammate now.”
—Teammate Mike Cuddyer

“It’s scary how much power he really has as long as he can stay within himself and keep his head about himself the right way.”
—Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra

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