Ahead of Roberto Clemente Day on Sept. 15, Major League Baseball has announced its 2024 nominees for one of baseball's most prestigious individual honours.
The Roberto Clemente Award is presented annually to a major leaguer in recognition of a player who best represents baseball through acts of high character such as philanthropy, community engagement and positive impact on and off the field.
Clemente played from 1955 to 1972, all for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a 15-time all-star, winning the NL MVP award and World Series MVP, while leading the Pirates to a pair of World Series titles. He was well known for his charity work and died in 1972 when the plane he was on, carrying aid to survivors of an earthquake in Nicaragua, crashed immediately after takeoff, off the coast of Puerto Rico, where he was from.
All 30 clubs have a player nominated for the honour and amongst the 17 first nominees is Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt.
Through two seasons in Toronto, the 35-year-old has endeared himself to the fanbase through both his play and his consistent presence in the community.
Bassitt's impact ranges from his work with the Jays Care Foundation (donating over $200,000) or in a more specific instance, reaching out to a long-time fan following the passing of his mother to offer condolences and game tickets.
The league-wide winner of the award will be announced at the 2024 World Series, selected by a panel of representatives from the commissioner's office, MLB-affiliated networks, MLB.com, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Clemente's children.
Fans can also have their say and vote for who they believe should take home the award. Voting ends on Sept. 29.
The Pirates will honour Clemente by wearing his iconic No. 21 on their uniforms on Roberto Clemente Day.
Each of the current nominees and previous award winners will also have the option to wear No. 21, while all active award recipients will have a "21" patch on the back of their caps.
The full list of nominees for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award are as follows:
* = First-time nominee
Arizona Diamondbacks – Paul Sewald*
Atlanta Braves – Chris Sale*
Baltimore Orioles – James McCann
Boston Red Sox – Liam Hendriks
Chicago Cubs – Patrick Wisdom*
Chicago White Sox – Andrew Vaughn*
Cincinnati Reds – Brent Suter
Cleveland Guardians – Steven Kwan*
Colorado Rockies – Kyle Freeland
Detroit Tigers – Tarik Skubal*
Houston Astros – Kyle Tucker*
Kansas City Royals – Salvador Perez
Los Angeles Angels – Mike Trout
Los Angeles Dodgers – Mookie Betts*
Miami Marlins – Jesús Luzardo*
Milwaukee Brewers – Freddy Peralta*
Minnesota Twins – Pablo López
New York Mets – Francisco Lindor
New York Yankees – Marcus Stroman
Oakland Athletics – Mason Miller*
Philadelphia Phillies – Kyle Schwarber
Pittsburgh Pirates – David Bednar
San Diego Padres – Manny Machado*
San Francisco Giants – Mike Yastrzemski*
Seattle Mariners – J.P. Crawford*
St. Louis Cardinals – Paul Goldschmidt
Tampa Bay Rays – Jason Adam*
Texas Rangers – Marcus Semien*
Toronto Blue Jays – Chris Bassitt*
Washington Nationals – Josiah Gray
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