2006

Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a "dwarf planet," an event memorialized more than a decade later in the song "The Lonesome Friends of Science" by the great John Print.

It was also the year of the Minnesota Twins’ Justin Morneau, who won the AL MVP award, though teammate Joe Mauer was just as good. He became the first catcher ever to win the AL batting title at .347. He hit .452 in June, and reached base four or more times in five straight games. Johan Santana won the Cy Young Award. 

#41 (Tie) Athletes

Justin Morneau

Johan Santana

The Minnesota Twins went 96-66 as Justin Morneau won the MVP award (34-130-.321) and Johan Santana the Cy Young (19-6, 2.77), but then they suffered their fourth straight playoff series loss, 3-0 to the Oakland A’s, in which they won just three games while losing 13.

Morneau grew up in Canada. He was drafted by the Twins as a catcher, but converted to first base in the minors and made his major league debut in 2003. He became a regular in 2005 with a 22-79-.229 season. Then, in 2006, he blossomed with a 34-130-.321 season, beating out Derek Jeter to win the MVP award. He drove in 100 runs again in 2007, 2008 and 2009, winning the all-star home run derby and finishing second in the MVP voting in 2008. He was 18-56-.345 halfway through the 2010 season when he suffered a concussion that nagged him for three years. Finally, in 2013, the Twins let him go. Oops. He won a National League batting title in Colorado in 2014 at .319. Morneau retired in 2016 at the age of 35 with 247 major league home runs, 985 RBI and a .281 batting average.

Santana was signed out of Venezuela by the Houston Astros, who couldn’t decide whether he should pitch or play centerfield. Reportedly, he was disappointed when the Astros told him he would pitch, but he pitched. He became a Twin in 1999, and he made his major league debut in 2000. He only became a fulltime starter in 2004. He promptly went 20-6, 2.61 with 265 strikeouts, and won the Cy Young Award, then another in 2006. No Twins pitcher has ever had a three-year streak like Santana. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 he went 55-19, 2.75 with 748 strikeouts, and he won the pitching Triple Crowns and his second Cy in 2006. He dropped to 15-13, 3.33 in 2007 and the Twins dealt him to the New York Mets, where he went 16-7, 2.53. He had three more injury-plagued seasons before retiring after 2012 at the age of 33.

• The Winona State men’s basketball team won the NCAA Division 2 championship, beating Virginia Union 73-61 in the final to finish 33-4. Center John Smith, forward David Zellman and guard Zach Malvik led the way. It was the first D2 national championship ever for a Minnesota school.

• The Bemidji Curling Club, skipped by Pete Fenson, won the Olympic bronze medal.

• The Eden Prairie girls hockey team won the Class AA title with a 31-0 record. South St. Paul moved down to Class A and won their fourth title in five years, the first three having come in AA. 

• The Minnesota Gopher wrestling team won the Big 10 title, while the golden age of Gopher women’s basketballcame to an end. The team slumped down the stretch including a surprise loss to Washington in the NCAA tournament. Shortly, six women left the team and it would be a long, long time before the Gopher women were relevant again.

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
2006	1 (tie). Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins Santana 2. Mauer, Minnesota Twins 3. John Smith, Winona State basketball	1. Winona State basketball (33-4, NCAA Division 2 champion) 2. Minnesota Twins (96-69, Central Division champion) 3 (tie). Eden Prairie girls hockey (31-0) South St. Paul girls hockey (23-6-1) (both state champions)	1. Mike Leaf, Winona State basketball 2. Pete Fenson, Bemidji Curling Club (Olympic bronze) 3. Robinson (Big 10 champion)	1. Winona State won the NCAA D2 basketball championship. 2. The Bemidji Curling Club won Olympic bronze. 3. Six players left the Minnesota Gophers women’s basketball team prematurely.