Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP, hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 runs batted in last season. (Gail Burton/Associated Press)

A distant second in voting for the American League's most valuable player for 2008, Justin Morneau is second to none as Canada's top baseball player.

On Friday, the Minnesota Twins first baseman was the recipient of the Tip O'Neill Award, handed out by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

It is the second time in three years that Morneau, who hails from New Westminster, B.C., has captured the award, and he joins Larry Walker (nine times), Jason Bay (two) and Eric Gagne (two) as multiple winners.

"I've got a long way to go to match Larry — he's a Hall of Famer in my books," said Morneau of Walker. "But any time you want to mention my name in the same sentence as his, that's cool with me."

Morneau, 27, counted seven first-place votes and had 257 points in AL MVP voting, finishing behind Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia (317 points).

Morneau hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 runs batted in to help the Twins reach a one-game playoff for the AL Central Division title, which they lost to the Chicago White Sox.

The six-year Twin also became the first Canadian to win the home run derby and scored the winning run at the all-star game.

Other top vote-getters for the award were Ryan Dempster, Bay, Joey Votto, Rich Harden, Russell Martin and women's national team MVP Ashley Stephenson.

With files from the Canadian Press