Adam Wainwright named Cardinals nominee for the 2015 Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet
Major League Baseball and Chevrolet, the official vehicle of MLB, today announced that Adam Wainwright was named the St. Louis Cardinals 2015 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet.
Wednesday, September 16th marks the fourteenth annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente's legacy and to officially recognize local Club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet. Wainwright is one of the 30 Club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement. The Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet pays tribute to Clemente's achievements and character by recognizing current players who truly understand the value of helping others.
Wainwright is heavily involved in Big League Impact, Inc., a fantasy football-based non-profit organization with the mission to raise money to help provide basic human needs like food, clean water, medical care and shelter, in an effort to restore dignity and hope to people in the local community and around the globe.
Wainwright has helped out communities in Uganda, Tanzania, the Philippines, Haiti, Honduras, and Liberia. In the first two years in 2013 and 2014, Big League Impact contributed over $600,000 to people in need.
In order to accomplish this, Wainwright offers a fun, exciting and one-of-a-kind experience that combines the baseball and football communities, involving some of the best professional athletes in the two sports participating with fans in a competitive fantasy football setting with the proceeds going to help organizations like Operation Food Search and Water Missions International.
During the 2015 season, Big League Impact involved eight Major League cities with headlining players including St. Louis, Washington D.C. (Max Scherzer), Cincinnati (Skip Schumaker), New York (David Wright), Atlanta (John Smoltz), Minneapolis (Kyle Gibson), San Francisco (Hunter Pence) and Pittsburgh (Neil Walker).
Wainwright also hosts "Wainwright's Winners", a program that invites kids to games at Busch Stadium where they receive a game ticket, concessions and a chance to meet Wainwright for an autograph and dugout visit. The program has impacted more than 1,000 kids since 2008.
"Adam Wainwright's determination on the mound is surpassed only by his passion and vision for helping others, both here in the St. Louis community, and abroad," explained Cardinals Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt, Jr. "His mission trips to Honduras and Haiti are just one example of his philanthropic reach internationally. He gives his money and time to multiple effective charities and supports our team's charitable foundation, Cardinals Care, and their mission of "Caring For Kids" locally. Nobody embodies the characteristics sought for in a candidate for the Roberto Clemente Award better than Adam Wainwright."
The distinguished list of past Roberto Clemente Award winners includes 16 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame:
1971 - Willie Mays+**
1972 - Brooks Robinson+**
1973 - Al Kaline+
1974 - Willie Stargell+
1975 - Lou Brock+
1976 - Pete Rose
1977 - Rod Carew+
1978 - Greg Luzinski
1979 - Andre Thornton
1980 - Phil Niekro+
1981 - Steve Garvey
1982 - Ken Singleton
1983 - Cecil Cooper
1984 - Ron Guidry
1985 - Don Baylor
1986 - Garry Maddox
1987 - Rick Sutcliffe
1988 - Dale Murphy
1989 - Gary Carter+
1990 - Dave Stewart
1991 - Harold Reynolds
1992 - Cal Ripken, Jr.+
1993 - Barry Larkin+
1994 - Dave Winfield+
1995 - Ozzie Smith+
1996 - Kirby Puckett+
1997 - Eric Davis
1998 - Sammy Sosa
1999 - Tony Gwynn+
2000 - Al Leiter
2001 - Curt Schilling
2002 - Jim Thome
2003 - Jamie Moyer
2004 - Edgar Martinez
2005 - John Smoltz+
2006 - Carlos Delgado
2007 - Craig Biggio+
2008 - Albert Pujols
2009 - Derek Jeter
2010 - Tim Wakefield
2011 - David Ortiz
2012 - Clayton Kershaw
2013 - Carlos Beltran
2014 - Paul Konerko *
2014 - Jimmy Rollins *
+ Member of The National Baseball Hall of Fame
* Co-winner
** Originally known as the Commissioner's Award (prior to 1973)
Beginning on Roberto Clemente Day, fans are encouraged to participate in the process of selecting the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet by visiting ChevyBaseball.com, which is powered by MLB Advanced Media, to vote for one of the 30 Club nominees. Voting ends on Friday, October 9th, and participating fans will be automatically registered for a chance to win a trip to the 2015 World Series, where the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet will be announced.
Clubs playing at home on September 16th will recognize their local nominees as part of Roberto Clemente Day ceremonies, while visiting Clubs will honor their nominees before another September home game. As part of the league-wide celebration, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards and a special tribute video will be played in ballparks.
The concept of honoring players for their philanthropic work was created in 1971 as the "Commissioner's Award," but was renamed to the "Roberto Clemente Award" in 1973 in honor of the Hall of Famer and 15-time All-Star who died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Each September since 2002, Major League Baseball has commemorated Roberto Clemente Day.