BOSTON, MA – Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi will be honored during a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park Friday, September 17, marking the 20th 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. 

Eovaldi was today named a 2021 nominee by Major League Baseball for the Roberto Clemente Award, a recognition given to a player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement. This is Eovaldi’s first time being nominated. 

Since arriving in Boston in 2018, Eovaldi has supported various charitable efforts, including those of the Red Sox and the Red Sox Foundation, as well as the Jimmy Fund and the Greater Boston Food Bank. Even with restrictions against in-person visits implemented at many organizations throughout the pandemic, Eovaldi has still managed to connect with children, doctors, and nurses through virtual appearances. 

In 2021, Eovaldi was named Jimmy Fund Captain, a role in which a player representative is chosen to support the 68-year relationship between the Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund. In this capacity, Eovaldi has visited with Jimmy Fund patients during their annual trips to Fort Myers and Fenway Park and has participated in the annual Red Sox Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon. He has recorded countless messages and PSA’s for the clinic to help with fundraising efforts and also made a monetary donation to the annual Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon this past August.

In 2019 and 2020, Eovaldi participated in the “Home Plate Project,” an MLB initiative created to address childhood hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eovaldi was one of the players across all 30 MLB clubs who collectively raised nearly $1 million to distribute food to children in need in partnership with the Garth Brooks “Teammates for Kids Foundation” and “Big League Impact.”

In addition to Eovaldi’s support of countless Red Sox community efforts and Red Sox Foundation charitable events annually through meet-and-greets and clinics, he has also found time to participate in fundraisers and visits supporting the Golisano Children’s Hospital in Southwest Florida, the Boys & Girls Club, and Walter Reed Medical Center during the club’s trip to Washington, D.C. in 2019. 

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected by 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 online at mlb.com/clemente21 (English) and LasMayores.com/clemente21 (Spanish). The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, October 3. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel.