Justin Morneau may have been the last participant asked to join the 2008 Homerun Derby, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t challenge the other seven sluggers. Morneau beat out a crazy performance by Rangers’ slugger Josh Hamilton to take the Homerun Derby title.

Most of the stories you read tomorrow won’t tell you that however. Josh Hamilton broke a single round record in the first with 28 homeruns, it was a crazy performance. Unfortunately for him, the homerun totals in the final round don’t carry over. Morneau hit five in the last round and Hamilton was worn out and knocked just three homeruns over the fence.

Although ESPN did a terrible job giving Morneau any credit, he was just as classy as he has always been, calling the derby the “Josh Hamilton Show” and saying he was lucky Hamilton wore out.

No matter what the circumstances were, it was a great task to make it to the finals, and to ultimately win after outlasting Hamilton.

Congrats Justin!