Major League Baseball is celebrating the life and legacy of Roberto Clemente during the 50th anniversary of his death due to a plane crash in 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
In 2002, MLB established Sept. 15 as Roberto Clemente Day to honor the late Hall of Famer’s legacy as a humanitarian.
Every year, each club has one nominee to win the Roberto Clemente Award, which 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.
This year, Justin Turner is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ nominee, marking the fifth time in the past six seasons he’s been up the honor.
As part of the celebration of Clemente’s life, a customized tribute video to both Roberto and his wife Vera will be shown in all ballparks as well as on MLB Network, MLB.com, team websites and MLB social media platforms.
Retired players who are Roberto Clemente Award winners went to New York to participate in a food packaging volunteer event with Rise Against Hunger at Citi Field with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Roberto Clemente Jr. and employees from the commissioner’s Office and the New York Mets.
The Award winners will be recognized during a special pregame ceremony that also will include members of the Hall of Famer’s family.
All players, managers and coaches on the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team for which Clemente played his entire career, will once again wear his “21” on their uniforms. They will be joined by all players, managers and coaches on the Mets doing the same.
Additionally, this year’s award nominees and previous recipients have the option to wear “21” on their uniforms, joining players from Puerto Rico and others who wore the number during the 2021 commemoration of Roberto Clemente Day.
All players and on-field personnel will wear a “21” patch on their uniform sleeves, with award nominees having language noting their recognition on their patches. As they have done all throughout the 2022 regular season, all active Roberto Clemente Award winners will have the “21” patch on the back of their caps in recognition of their distinction in this special fraternity.
Throughout the league, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on base jewels and official dugout lineup cards.
Additional social media content celebrating Roberto’s legacy in the sport and recognizing the impact of the late Vera Clemente, who served as MLB’s Goodwill Ambassador, will be featured throughout the day. MLB.com and all 30 club sites will feature Roberto Clemente Day Award stories and content as well.
Fan vote for Roberto Clemente Award winner
A league-wide winner of the 2022 Roberto Clemente Award will be selected by a blue ribbon panel that includes Manfred, representatives from Capital One, MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, and Roberto’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Jr.
Fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award winner at mlb.com/clemente21 (English) and LasMayores.com/clemente21 (Spanish) through the end of the regular season on Wednesday, October 5. The winner from fan voting will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel.
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