Roberto Clemente Award

The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team", as voted on by baseball fans and members of the media. It is named for Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente. Originally known as the Commissioner's Award, it has been presented by MLB since 1971. In 1973, the award was renamed after Clemente following his death in a plane crash while he was delivering supplies to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake.^[1]

Roberto Clemente Award

Logo for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award.
Sport	Baseball
League	Major League Baseball
Awarded for	The player that "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual's contribution to his team"
Country	United States, Canada
Presented by	Major League Baseball
History
First award	1971
Most recent	Salvador Pérez, Kansas City Royals
Website	MLB.com

Each year, a panel of baseball dignitaries selects one player from among 30 nominees, one from each club. Teams choose their nominee during the regular season, and the winner is announced before Game 3 of the World Series.^[1] The player who receives the most votes online via MLB's official website, MLB.com, gets one vote in addition to the votes cast by the panel.^[1] Since 2007, the Roberto Clemente Award has been presented by Chevy. Chevy donates money and a Chevy vehicle to the recipient's charity of choice and additional money is donated by Chevy to the Roberto Clemente Sports City, a non-profit organization in Carolina, Puerto Rico, that provides national sports activities for children. Chevy donates additional funds to the charity of choice of each of the 30 club nominees.^[1]

The first recipient of the award was Willie Mays, and the most recent honoree is Salvador Pérez. No player has received the award more than once. The first pitcher to receive the award was Phil Niekro in 1980, and the first catcher to receive it was Gary Carter in 1989.^[1] The team to have the most winners representing their club is the St. Louis Cardinals. To date, Clemente's former teammate Willie Stargell and Andrew McCutchen are the only members of the Pittsburgh Pirates to receive the honor. Stargell won his award in 1974 and McCutchen in 2015. The Pirates themselves have worn Clemente-era throwback uniforms in recent years on Roberto Clemente Day, on which day they present their award nominee to MLB.^[2] In 2014, the award was presented to two players—Paul Konerko and Jimmy Rollins—for the first, and to date, only time. Currently, the active MLB teams that have never won the award are the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington Nationals.

Honorees

In 1971, Willie Mays was the first recipient of the award.

Don Baylor received the award in 1985.

1992 recipient Cal Ripken Jr.

Tony Gwynn was the 1999 recipient.

The first Boston player to receive the award was Tim Wakefield in 2010.

The 2016 award went to Curtis Granderson.

Key

†	Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
^	Player is still active

Recipients by year

Year	Player	Team	League	Position
1971	Willie Mays †	San Francisco Giants	National	Outfielder
1972	Brooks Robinson †	Baltimore Orioles	American	Third baseman
1973	Al Kaline †	Detroit Tigers	American	Outfielder
1974	Willie Stargell †	Pittsburgh Pirates	National	Outfielder
1975	Lou Brock †	St. Louis Cardinals	National	Outfielder
1976	Pete Rose	Cincinnati Reds	National	Third baseman
1977	Rod Carew †	Minnesota Twins	American	First baseman
1978	Greg Luzinski	Philadelphia Phillies	National	Outfielder
1979	Andre Thornton	Cleveland Indians	American	First baseman
1980	Phil Niekro †	Atlanta Braves	National	Pitcher
1981	Steve Garvey	Los Angeles Dodgers	National	First baseman
1982	Ken Singleton	Baltimore Orioles	American	Designated hitter
1983	Cecil Cooper	Milwaukee Brewers	American	First baseman
1984	Ron Guidry	New York Yankees	American	Pitcher
1985	Don Baylor	New York Yankees	American	Designated hitter
1986	Garry Maddox	Philadelphia Phillies	National	Outfielder
1987	Rick Sutcliffe	Chicago Cubs	National	Pitcher
1988	Dale Murphy	Atlanta Braves	National	Outfielder
1989	Gary Carter †	New York Mets	National	Catcher
1990	Dave Stewart	Oakland Athletics	American	Pitcher
1991	Harold Reynolds	Seattle Mariners	American	Second baseman
1992	Cal Ripken Jr. †	Baltimore Orioles	American	Shortstop
1993	Barry Larkin †	Cincinnati Reds	National	Shortstop
1994	Dave Winfield †	Minnesota Twins	American	Designated hitter
1995	Ozzie Smith †	St. Louis Cardinals	National	Shortstop
1996	Kirby Puckett †	Minnesota Twins	American	Outfielder
1997	Eric Davis	Baltimore Orioles	American	Outfielder
1998	Sammy Sosa	Chicago Cubs	National	Outfielder
1999	Tony Gwynn †	San Diego Padres	National	Outfielder
2000	Al Leiter	New York Mets	National	Pitcher
2001	Curt Schilling	Arizona Diamondbacks	National	Pitcher
2002	Jim Thome †	Cleveland Indians	American	First baseman
2003	Jamie Moyer	Seattle Mariners	American	Pitcher
2004	Edgar Martínez †	Seattle Mariners	American	Designated hitter
2005	John Smoltz †	Atlanta Braves	National	Pitcher
2006	Carlos Delgado	New York Mets	National	First baseman
2007	Craig Biggio †	Houston Astros	National	Second baseman
2008	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	National	First baseman
2009	Derek Jeter †	New York Yankees	American	Shortstop
2010	Tim Wakefield	Boston Red Sox	American	Pitcher
2011	David Ortiz †	Boston Red Sox	American	Designated hitter
2012	Clayton Kershaw^	Los Angeles Dodgers	National	Pitcher
2013	Carlos Beltrán	St. Louis Cardinals	National	Outfielder
2014[a]	Paul Konerko	Chicago White Sox	American	First baseman
	Jimmy Rollins	Philadelphia Phillies	National	Shortstop
2015	Andrew McCutchen^	Pittsburgh Pirates	National	Outfielder
2016	Curtis Granderson	New York Mets	National	Outfielder
2017	Anthony Rizzo^	Chicago Cubs	National	First baseman
2018	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	National	Catcher
2019	Carlos Carrasco^	Cleveland Indians	American	Pitcher
2020	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	National	Pitcher
2021	Nelson Cruz	Tampa Bay Rays Minnesota Twins[b]	American	Designated hitter
2022	Justin Turner^	Los Angeles Dodgers	National	Third baseman
2023	Aaron Judge^	New York Yankees	American	Outfielder
2024	Salvador Pérez^	Kansas City Royals	American	Catcher

1. In 2014, there were two recipients of the award, one in each league.
2. Cruz was traded from the Twins to the Rays shortly after the All-Star break, but was nominated for the award by the Twins.

See also

• Baseball portal

• Walter Payton Man of the Year Award
• Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award
• Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
• Branch Rickey Award
• Bart Giamatti Award
• Baseball awards
• Golden Spirit Award (similar Japanese awards)

References

General

• "Roberto Clemente Award". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
• "Roberto Clemente Award winners". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on November 30, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
• "The Hutch Award, Lou Gehrig Award, Babe Ruth Award & Roberto Clemente Award Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
• "Roberto Clemente Award Winners". ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2009.

Specific

1. "Roberto Clemente Award – About the award". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on July 10, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
2. "Pirates' McCutchen Nominated For Clemente Award". KDKA-TV. September 16, 2013. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.

External links