MIAMI – Major League Baseball today announced that pitcher Pablo López was named the Miami Marlins’ 2022 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One, baseball’s most prestigious individual honor for Major Leaguers.
The Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One 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.
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. The Marlins will present Lopez the award in a pre-game ceremony on Thursday, September 15, when the club will celebrate Roberto Clemente Day. Additionally, on Sept. 15, the Marlins will also present the Miami Marlins Roberto Clemente Award to the Marlins employee who best represents Roberto Clemente’s spirit through community involvement and philanthropy.
Beyond excelling on the mound this season, López also continues to make an impact on the South Florida community on the field and beyond the walls of loanDepot park. With COVID restrictions adjusted for this season, he jumped at the first opportunity available to visit with a group of all-star students at Renaissance Charter School. In recognition of April as Stress Awareness Month, López spent the morning with students, engaging in conversations about how he handles stressful situations and maintains a positive mindset on and off the field. He offered suggestions on how he keeps a level mindset and how his techniques could help the students remain calm and positive during their upcoming tests. Following each session, Pablo took the time to answer all the kids questions and chat with them individually on a personal level.
López also supports the fundraising efforts of the Miami Marlins Foundation by providing his time and talent for unique auction packages, such as a thirty-minute pitching lesson in the bullpen at loanDepot park for a youngster. These once-in-a-lifetime experiences not only build lifelong memories for fans but also raise funds to support Miami Marlins Foundation programming.
Thursday, September 15th marks the 21st annual Roberto Clemente Day presented by Capital One, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy as a humanitarian and to formally acknowledge Club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award. As part of the league-wide celebration, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards and a special tribute video will be played in ballparks. Additionally, a customized tribute video to both Roberto and his wife Vera – Momentito(in English and Spanish) – will be shown in all MLB ballparks on Roberto Clemente Day as well as on MLB Network, MLB.com, Club sites and MLB Social Media Platforms.
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Commissioner Manfred, representatives from Capital One, 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 presented by Capital One via 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 Wednesday, October 5th. 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.
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