Fans Can Read About Players’ Community Efforts and Vote Through the End of the 2020 Regular Season at MLB.com/clemente21
The 30 Club nominees for the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award, baseball’s most prestigious individual honor for Major Leaguers, feature some of the game’s most philanthropic and humanitarian players, including 14 first-time nominees. 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. The nominees will be officially recognized on Wednesday, September 9th, marking the 19th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor the late Hall of Famer’s legacy as a humanitarian.
The 30 Club nominees of the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award are listed below:
Arizona Diamondbacks – Eduardo Escobar
Atlanta Braves – Freddie Freeman
Baltimore Orioles – Hanser Alberto
Boston Red Sox – Mitch Moreland
Chicago Cubs – Jason Heyward
Chicago White Sox – Tim Anderson
Cincinnati Reds – Tucker Barnhart
Cleveland Indians – Brad Hand
Colorado Rockies – Ian Desmond
Detroit Tigers – Miguel Cabrera
Houston Astros – Alex Bregman
Kansas City Royals – Ian Kennedy
Los Angeles Angels – Mike Trout
Los Angeles Dodgers – Justin Turner
Miami Marlins – Miguel Rojas
Milwaukee Brewers – Brent Suter
Minnesota Twins – Nelson Cruz
New York Mets – Steven Matz
New York Yankees – Giancarlo Stanton
Oakland Athletics – Tony Kemp
Philadelphia Phillies – Aaron Nola
Pittsburgh Pirates – Josh Bell
San Diego Padres – Drew Pomeranz
San Francisco Giants – Hunter Pence
Seattle Mariners – Dee Strange-Gordon
St. Louis Cardinals – Adam Wainwright
Tampa Bay Rays – Charlie Morton
Texas Rangers – Shin-Soo Choo
Toronto Blue Jays – Danny Jansen
Washington Nationals – Sean Doolittle
*NOTE: due to the adjusted 2020 Regular Season, Clubs were permitted to nominate players on restricted lists and/or if they were otherwise traded or designated for assignment.*
More information can be found at MLB.com/clemente21.
As part of the annual program, each MLB Club nominates one player to be considered for the league-wide Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. This year’s list of nominees features players whose various
community and philanthropic activities have focused on important causes such as COVID-19 relief, social justice initiatives, supporting those with cancer and other illnesses or special needs, outreach to underserved children & communities in the United States and abroad, environmental advocacy, and more.
On Roberto Clemente Day, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Club for which Roberto played his entire Hall of Fame career, was granted permission to have all players, managers and coaches wear Roberto’s “21” on their uniforms. Throughout the league, Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards and a special tribute video will be played in ballparks. Additional social media content supporting Roberto’s legacy and recognizing the impact of the late Vera Clemente, who served as MLB’s Goodwill Ambassador, will be featured throughout the day.
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), MLB.com, as well as Roberto’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr. Beginning today, fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award via mlb.com/clemente21. 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 27th. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel.
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.