This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- J.P. Crawford’s swagger and style of play have made him wildly popular among younger Mariners fans during his six seasons in Seattle. So it’s perhaps fitting that his more charitable efforts to give back to the community are mostly rooted in local youth.
“I love kids,” Crawford said. “I still feel like I'm a kid at heart. ... I’m just trying to live my life like them.”
Crawford is the Mariners’ nominee for this year’s Roberto Clemente Award, the annual honor given to the player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
It’s a recognition that just about everyone in the game believes to be the highest honor -- above MVP and Cy Young Awards and all other individual accolades.
“I was very humbled,” Crawford said. “It's a great award. I think it's the best award in baseball.”
Crawford has been the Mariners’ leading presence with the club’s Hometown Nine program, which was created in 2020 to create access, remove barriers to participation and build a culture of inclusion by providing mentorship as well as financial and academic support to youth baseball and softball players. It’s a five-year commitment to nine incoming eighth graders, providing financial, academic, professional and social support to encourage success in their athletic careers and educational journeys.
He’s also regularly taken part in the Rizzs Toys 4 Kids Foundation, aiding longtime radio broadcaster Rick Rizzs, annually volunteering to distribute gifts to children at Yesler Community Center during the holidays. Crawford also promotes and attends the annual Toys 4 Kids charity gala, which surpassed a milestone $1 million in contributions last year.
Since 2017, dating back to when he was still with the Phillies, Crawford has served on the board of the Baseball Generations Foundation (BBG), which has served 500 players annually by providing resources, equipment and opportunities to participate at all levels. The foundation has had 28 player alumni drafted by MLB teams, with an additional 132 players receiving Division I scholarships.
And recently, Crawford and his wife, Kathy, have also led the work done by Mariners families in the “Seattle Angels” program, which serves over 20 girls in foster care each season. Each girl is connected to a Mariners family and taken back-to-school shopping for clothes and supplies that reflect the style and preferences of each individual student. They’re also invited to a game in a suite.
“I just always told myself when I was little, ‘When you make it, if you make it, give back to people,’ like where I came from, who really, really didn't have anything,” Crawford said. “And just to give them hope. I think that's the biggest thing -- just giving kids hope that they could make it here in my shoes.”
Crawford’s heart has always been big, but acts of kindness took a new hold on him when playing alongside Dee Strange-Gordon -- a four-time Clemente Award nominee -- during his first two years in Seattle.
“To this day, I still think he’s one of the greatest people on Earth,” Crawford said.
Crawford’s impact on kids has always been there, too, but it will take on new meaning when he and Kathy welcome the birth of their first child next year.
“Baby girl ain't even here yet,” Crawford said. “But [it's] just looking at life and just knowing that giving back and that you're going to be that father figure, and just trying to be that role model to everyone.”