Mayfield, Kentucky -- the town of about 10,000 in the southwest corner of the Bluegrass State that has been called “ground zero” of the deadly tornado outbreak Dec. 11 that killed at least 88 people across five states -- is Major League umpire Tripp Gibson’s hometown. And right now, it is unrecognizable.

For the past 25 years, Major League Baseball and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) have partnered together to foster the growing participation of youth baseball and softball, provide workforce development and career readiness programs and stage life-changing activations for kids across the country.

When the Military Veteran Professionals Business Resource Group (MVP BRG) launched in 2019 -- the ninth of Major League Baseball’s employee networks fostering diversity, equity and inclusion -- its leaders would not have been able to suspect that two years of a global pandemic would delay their efforts to host a volunteer event at the Office of the Commissioner.

A new street sign was announced in the Oakland district of Pittsburgh: Clemente Drive has been renamed to “Robert & Vera Clemente Drive.” The sons of the Clementes petitioned the city of Pittsburgh to add their mother’s name to the street, and the city council of Pittsburgh approved it.

The Rays continued their Week of Giving -- five straight days of donations and volunteer events for local nonprofits and families in need during the holiday season -- with Rays employees sorting food donations and assembling “Boxes of Hope,” full of non-perishable items, before presenting a $5,000 donation to Metropolitan Ministries.

The Kansas City Royals have been named recipient of the 2021 “Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence." The honor recognizes the Club’s response to recovery effort that utilized the Kansas City Royals MLB Urban Youth Academy as a community resource to provide educational support for youth as well as access to voting and COVID-19 vaccinations.