The Roberto Clemente Award

 

It was fitting that Nelson Cruz received the Roberto Clemente Award in 2022 as the 50th anniversary of Clemente’s untimely passing approached. Both Clemente and Cruz hailed from Caribbean islands, and each used his wealth and status derived from playing major-league baseball to help improve the lives of the less fortunate there as well as around the United States. From an early time in his career, Cruz arranged medical and dental treatment for people in his native Dominican Republic who could not afford proper treatment on their own. Among other things, Cruz’s efforts assisted more than 1,000 families through various challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clemente, of course, lost his life in a plane accident while he was deeply engaged in a fight to help Nicaraguans after a more typical natural disaster, a tremendous earthquake that struck in the final days of 1972.

When we think of memorials, our minds usually jump to something physical: a building, a statue, a painting, a mural. These things connote permanence because they are tangible and often enormous. But they aren’t forever; statues can be torn down. Ballparks, too, can be torn down or renamed again and again after a succession of corporations. Awards achieve a different type of permanence; there is every reason to believe that the Roberto Clemente Award will remain intact and awarded each year.

Clemente biographer David Maraniss suggests strongly that Clemente intended to stay involved in the game after his retirement, which surely would have come a few years after 1972.1 Maybe he would have coached, maybe he would have managed. Certainly he would have remained involved in issues of the day outside baseball. Could we have imagined him extending his career another seven years to still be Willie Stargell’s teammate on the 1979 World Series champions? It seems unlikely, but he may have been in uniform as a coach on his way to being a manager, or maybe he would have been the manager already. As of 2022 Stargell was one of two Pittsburgh Pirates to win the Roberto Clemente Award, the other being Andrew McCutchen.

The prize that honors Clemente was not created in his name. Started in 1971 as the Commissioner’s Trophy, or the Baseball Achievement Award, it is now “bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions both on and off the field.”2 Willie Mays and Brooks Robinson were the first two recipients of the award.

After his death on the final day of 1972, the trophy was renamed in Clemente’s honor. Little fanfare was involved in the first new award in 1973: “A memorial was dedicated to Clemente today: the trophy given by the Commissioner each year to a ballplayer of high reputation was named the Roberto Clemente Award. It was given tonight at the annual Governor’s Dinner to Al Kaline, 38-year-old outfielder for the Detroit Tigers.”3 The Governor’s Dinner was held in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 20, 1973 Vera Clemente was introduced and presented the renamed award. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said of its prior name, “I have never liked that name. It is awkward. But we have renamed it as well and as fittingly as we ever could. We have renamed it the Roberto Clemente Award and we present it to a man noted for his unassuming ways and his flawless and perfect execution on and off the field.”4 Kuhn said the award would be “given annually hereafter … to the major leaguer whose onfield and off-field conduct best exemplifies the best traditions of the game.”5 It’s not clear whether Kaline knew in advance that he’d be receiving the award.

It had been quite a day for Vera Clemente. That morning, the announcement had been made that in a special election, her husband had been named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A round of broadcast and newspaper interviews followed. That evening, at the dinner, Commissioner Kuhn made the announcement regarding the naming of the award, and Vera made the presentation to Kaline, although she was unable to complete her remarks after being overcome with tearful emotion.

The process for selection is outlined on mlb.​com: “Every year, each MLB Club nominates a player to be considered for the 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 issues ranging from awareness & fundraising to support those with cancer and other illnesses or special needs, education for young people, natural disaster relief, outreach to underserved children & communities in the United States and abroad, and more.”6

The description submitted by the Minnesota Twins on behalf of their 2021 nominee Cruz runs 10 paragraphs. It detailed his personal efforts to provide food and funds to 1,200 families in Las Matas de Santa Cruz, his Dominican hometown, so they could comply with stay-at-home orders during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruz’s work resulted in a $400,000 donation from MLB, the MLBPA, and the Players Trust. The veteran power hitter had previously donated an ambulance, a fire truck, and related supplies, and has annually arranged for dentists and optometrists to visit the town to offer checkups, medicine, and eyewear.7

The following is a listing of the recipients of the Roberto Clemente Award (including the 1971 and 1972 Baseball Achievement Awards):

 

 

The on-field profile of the players connected to Clemente through this award has changed over the years. Six of the first seven players honored were later inducted into the Hall of Fame, and the seventh was Pete Rose. The honorees were all Clemente’s contemporaries and arguably his near-equal in playing greatness. From 1978 to 1991, in contrast, only two honorees – Phil Niekro and Gary Carter – have made it into the Hall of Fame. Niekro is also one of only 12 pitchers who have been included among the 52.

Aside from Clayton Kershaw, who won the award as a 24-year-old, most honorees have been well into the latter portion of their career, and most were still producing at a high level at that age, as Clemente himself was. Four honorees won in years in which they were integral pieces in a World Series championship – Pete Rose of the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, Steve Garvey of the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers, Curt Schilling of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and Derek Jeter of the 2009 New York Yankees.

The Roberto Clemente Foundation offers interesting perspectives on the award:

So what exactly is the award? It’s been given out for nearly 50 years, but it doesn’t get as much publicity as, say, the Cy Young Award. So what makes it stand out among the many (some would say too many) awards the MLB gives out each year? The Clemente Award is the only MLB award not based on field performance. Make no mistake, the recipient is always an outstanding player, but this is not a statistics award. It’s intended for athletes who embody Roberto’s values on the diamond and in the community. Because of that, it stands out as unique (because it is) and is simultaneously easy to ignore during the blitz of press that always comes with the end of the World Series. But while its media footprint may be relatively small, it has established itself as one of the sport’s most prestigious awards.8

The Foundation also thoughtfully notes, “Some of these players, since receiving their awards, have gone on in the intervening years to exhibit deficiencies in character that Roberto certainly would not have approved of. It’s worth noting that such cases are exceptions, and most of these men have shown themselves to have exemplary character, at least in public. If anything, those exceptions serve as case studies to show that it’s always a mistake to hold up entertainers and athletes as paragons of virtue. Roberto himself wasn’t perfect, nobody is. What matters is the effort put in to use your platform to make the world a better place.”

On receiving the award in 2021, Cruz said, “I never was doing what I was doing to be recognized or win awards, but it’s always nice when people recognize the work that you put on to help others. I know all 29 other players that were nominated really deserved to win it. I just thank God that I was the one.”9

The selection process, as described for the 2021 award: Cruz was selected from a list of 30 players, one from each major-league team. Voting members for the award included Commissioner Rob Manfred; Roberto Clemente’s children, Enrique, Luis, and Roberto Jr.; former players (including former Roberto Clemente Award winners), and journalists from MLB Network, Fox Sports, ESPN, TBS, and MLB.​com. Additionally, fans were given the chance to vote via MLB.​com/C​leme​nte21.10

The emphasis on philanthropy has evolved over the years. It is a welcome evolution and, as the Clemente Foundation has noted, differentiates the award from other awards in professional sports.

 

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Bill Nowlin and John Thorn for assistance in preparing this article.

 

Notes

1 David Maraniss, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero (New York, Simon and Schuster, 2006), 284-5.

2 h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/c​ommun​ity/R​obert​o-Cle​mente​-Awar​d

3 Joseph Durso, “A Rare Honor for Clemente,” New York Times, March 20, 1973 h​ttp:/​/arch​ive.n​ytime​s.com​/www.​nytim​es.co​m/pac​kages​/html​/spor​ts/ye​ar_in​_spor​ts/03​.20.h​tml?s​cp=8&sq=​11th%​2520D​ay&st​=cse Accessed June 29, 2022.

4 Jack Lang, “Proud Mrs. Clemente Presents Award,” The Sporting News, April 7, 1973: 37.

5 Bill Clark, “Griffith Honored by Askew,” Orlando Sentinel, March 21, 1973: 26.

6 h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/c​ommun​ity/r​obert​o-cle​mente​-aw​ard. Accessed February 6, 2022.

7 h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/c​ommun​ity/r​obert​o-cle​mente​-award. Accessed May 9, 2022. The materials submitted in support of each nominee by all 30 major-league clubs is presented.

8 h​ttps:​//rob​ertoc​lemen​tefou​ndati​on.co​m/cle​mente​-award/ Accessed May 9, 2022.

9 Do-Hyoung Park and Anthony Castrovince, “Nelson Cruz Wins Roberto Clemente Award,” MLB.​com, October 27, 2021. h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/n​ews/n​elson​-cruz​-wins​-2021​-robe​rto-c​lemen​te-aw​ard#:​~:tex​t=%22​I%20n​ever%​20was​%20do​ing%2​0what​,that​%20I%​20was​%20th​e%20o​ne.​%22.

10 The balloting completed, the ballot item at the site has been removed.