Major League Baseball today announced that Hunter Renfroe was named the San Diego Padres 2019 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, the most prestigious individual award for Major League players. 

The Roberto Clemente Award 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.

Each Club nominates one current player to be considered for the Roberto Clemente Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. Wednesday, September 6th marks the sixteenth annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy and to officially acknowledge local Club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award. 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.

Every year, each MLB Club nominates a player to be considered for the Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. Wednesday, September 18 marks the 18th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy and to officially acknowledge local Club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award. 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.

Hunter Renfroe is one of the 30 Club nominees for the annual award. Hunter has dedicated his time and effort to supporting the San Diego community both in season and during the offseason, specifically committing his time to thank and support those who serve. This includes visits to local Military instillations and shopping with Military families during the holidays. Recently, he and his wife, Courtney, joined Padres Front Office staff after a Padres game in creating Military Care Packages, which were sent to four different Military troops on deployment including the USS Essex and USS Rushmore. Hunter’s support also extends to STAR/PAL as he regularly attends baseball clinics and has participated as a Celebrity Waiter in STAR/PAL’s Annual Luncheon to help raise funds for the organization. Hunter will be recognized as the club’s nominee during the pregame ceremonies at Petco Park on Thursday, September 26.

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS) and MLB.com, as well as Vera Clemente (the late Roberto’s wife & MLB Goodwill Ambassador). Beginning today, fans can vote for the overall winner of the Roberto Clemente Award via a dedicated website. The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, September 29th. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel. Fans are encouraged to vote by visiting the following link: mlb.com/clemente21.

The concept of honoring Major League players for their philanthropic work was created in 1971 as the “Commissioner’s Award.” The recognition 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. 

**The distinguished list of past Roberto Clemente Award winners includes 18 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 Beltrán
2014 - Paul Konerko *
2014 - Jimmy Rollins *
2015 - Andrew McCutchen
2016 - Curtis Granderson
2017 - Anthony Rizzo
2018 - Yadier Molina+ Member of The National Baseball Hall of Fame; * Co-winner; ** Originally known as the Commissioner's Award (prior to 1973)