MLB Names Roberto Clemente Award 2024 Honorees, Unveils Clemente Day Activation
Monday, September 9, 2024 at 02:12PM NYSJ Sports-Entertainment Business News Service
September 9, 2024: MLB has unveiled the 2024 nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award — regarded as one of the most prestigious in all of sports — and its plans for Roberto Clemente Day Sept. 15, both of which are presented by Capital One.
The Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One is the annual recognition of a Major League player who “best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”
The concept of honoring Major League players for their philanthropic work, created in 1971 as the “Commissioner’s Award,” was renamed to the “Roberto Clemente Award” in 1973 as tribute to Clemente following his passing on Dec. 31, 1972 during a humanitarian mission to deliver relief supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
MLB established Roberto Clemente Day in 2002 as an “additional honor to his legacy, further encouraging philanthropic leadership across the league.” Clemente was induced into the National Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1973 via a special election.
This list of nominees (individually nominated by each MLB club) features players whose "various community-impact and philanthropic activities have focused on advocating and supporting important causes such as education programs, cancer, mental health, access to baseball & softball and environmental sustainability."
(See full list below.)
Following selection by a blue-ribbon panel, the overall winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be named during the 2024 World Series presented by Capital One.
This panel includes representatives from the Commissioner’s Office, Capital One, MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, Fox Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Roberto’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr.
Beginning today, people can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One via in both English and Spanish.
The site, which features bios of each nominee, allows people to vote through the end of the season, Sept. 29.
The winner of the public-at-large vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue-ribbon panel.
Included among the activation on Clemente Day 2024, throughout the league, the Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One and the MLB Together logo will appear on base jewels and official dugout lineup cards.
MLB.com and all 30 club sites also will feature Roberto Clemente Day and Award stories and content.
A customized tribute video to Clemente’s legacy and the 30 Roberto Clemente Award nominees (English and Spanish) will be shown in all MLB ball parks and across MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.tv, club sites and MLB Social Media platforms.
All players, managers and coaches on the Pittsburgh Pirates — the team for which Clemente played his entire pro career — will again wear his “21” on their uniforms.
Additional uniform elements include all players and on-field personnel wearing a “21” patch on their uniform sleeves, with nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One having language noting their recognition on their patches.
All Roberto Clemente Award nominees and previous Award recipients will have the option to wear “21” as their uniform number, joining players from Puerto Rico and others who wore the number during previous commemorations of Roberto Clemente Day.
As they have done all throughout the past few seasons, all active Roberto Clemente Award winners will have the “21” patch on the back of their caps in recognition of their place in this special fraternity.
The 30 Club nominees for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One:
Arizona Diamondbacks: Paul Sewald
Atlanta Braves: Chris Sale
Baltimore Orioles: James McCann
Boston Red Sox: Liam Hendriks
Chicago Cubs: Patrick Wisdom
Chicago White Sox: Andrew Vaughn
Cincinnati Reds: Brent Suter
Cleveland Guardians: Steven Kwan
Colorado Rockies: Kyle Freeland
Detroit Tigers: Tarik Skubal
Houston Astros: Kyle Tucker
Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez
Los Angeles Angels: Mike Trout
Los Angeles Dodgers: Mookie Betts
Miami Marlins: Jesús Luzardo
Milwaukee Brewers: Freddy Peralta
Minnesota Twins: Pablo López
New York Mets: Francisco Lindor
New York Yankees: Marcus Stroman
Oakland Athletics: Mason Miller
Philadelphia Phillies: Kyle Schwarber
Pittsburgh Pirates: David Bednar
San Diego Padres: Manny Machado
San Francisco Giants: Mike Yastrzemski
Seattle Mariners: J.P. Crawford
St. Louis Cardinals: Paul Goldschmidt
Tampa Bay Rays: Jason Adam
Texas Rangers: Marcus Semien
Toronto Blue Jays: Chris Bassitt
Washington Nationals: Josiah Gray