CARLOS CARRASCO NAMED INDIANS NOMINEE FOR THE
2019 ROBERTO CLEMENTE AWARD
Major League Baseball today announced that CARLOS CARRASCO was named the Cleveland Indians 2019 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, the most prestigious individual award for Major League players.
The Roberto Clemente Award 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.
Each Club nominates one current player to be considered for the Roberto Clemente Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. Wednesday, September 6th marks the sixteenth annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy and to officially acknowledge local 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.
RC dayEvery year, each MLB Club nominates a player to be considered for the Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. Wednesday, September 18 marks the 18th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy and to officially acknowledge local 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.
Carrasco is one of the 30 Club nominees for the annual award. The Tribe right-hander has donated his time, supplies and dollars to multiple countries over the past year, including his hometown of Venezuela, the United States, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Africa, Mexico and Puerto Rico. To see all of Carrasco’s community involvement in the past year, please see the attached PDF.
“Just to hear that I am the Roberto Clemente nominee makes me stronger and happier because I know what he did,” Carrasco said. “As a baseball player, he was amazing – an unbelievable player. Off the field, he was an incredible person who helped a lot of people.
“To win the Roberto Clemente Award would mean a lot for my country, for all of those countries I’ve been helping, and for the United States, because they gave me an opportunity to play this game, to work here, to do everything from here. It would really be an honor to win.”
Carrasco will be recognized as the Cleveland Indians Roberto Clemente nominee during a pregame ceremony on September 18.
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS) and MLB.com, as well as Vera Clemente (the late Roberto’s wife & MLB Goodwill Ambassador). Beginning today, fans can vote for the overall winner of the Roberto Clemente Award via a dedicated website. The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, September 29th. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel. Fans are encouraged to vote by visiting the following link: mlb.com/clemente21.
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.