Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello will be honored during a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park tonight, Wednesday, September 6, marking the 16th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which pays tribute to the 15-time MLB All-Star and Hall of Famer's legacy. Clemente died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. 
Porcello was recently named a 2017 nominee by Major League Baseball for the Roberto Clemente Award, a recognition given to a player who best represents the game through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.
Porcello is a long-time supporter of Team Joseph, a charity that helps find treatments and cures for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a hereditary disorder of progressive muscular weakness, typically in boys. In addition to meeting with children suffering from the disease, Porcello has matched the total raised during Team Joseph's annual fundraising campaigns, matching over $150,000 in donations since 2012.
Porcello has also focused his attention of supporting student baseball programs, making a $1 million donation to his high school alma mater, Seton Hall Prep, to build a state-of-the-art baseball complex. He also donated $20,000 to St. John's University's baseball program. 
Since his arrival in Boston in 2015, Porcello has participated in the Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida Golf Tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, met with Jimmy Fund patients at Fenway Park and during their annual trip to JetBlue Park, attended all three Winter Weekend fanfest events, and participated in the Red Sox Foundation's Picnic in the Park fundraiser signing autographs for fans. He was also a participant, along with his teammates, in the Red Sox Ice Bucket Challenge supporting Pete Frates and his fundraising efforts for ALS.
Porcello was named the BoSox Club's "Man of the Year" in 2016, and earlier this year he received the Tim Wakefield Community Service Award at the Boston Baseball Writers Dinner.
The Roberto Clemente Award winner will be selected by a panel that includes Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS) and MLB Advanced Media, as well as Roberto's late wife Vera Clemente. Fan voting for the award winner will take place Monday, October 2, through Friday, October 6, on MLB.com and on MLB social media channels.