Cast your vote now via this link:MLBTogether.com/clemente21

(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: Each year Major League Baseball, (MLB), in honor of the late, great #21 Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirates legend and Hall of Famer, takes notice to conduct its annual selection of one player that has been nominated by each team, to be chosen for the coveted award named in his tribute and memory, that “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team,” 

This year, the Dodgers have submitted their nominee in the person of the popular, philanthropic, and veteran, Chris “CT3” Taylor. Justin “JT” Turner, now a Boston Red Sox player and Taylor’s former Dodger teammate, was named the recipient of last year’s prestigious award. Here is the full story as distributed by Major League Baseball.

CHRIS TAYLOR NAMED DODGER NOMINEE FOR THE
2023 ROBERTO CLEMENTE AWARD PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE

Major League Baseball on 9/8/23 announced that Chris Taylor was named the Dodgers’ 2023 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. This is Taylor’s first nomination for the award.

Ever since making his debut the Dodgers in 2016, Taylor has always made a big impression. In his 11th game with the club, he belted his first-career homer, a grand slam, and drove in six runs. The next year, he was the Dodger leadoff man on a pennant winning team and was named Co-MVP of the NLCS. In 2018, his game-saving catch from left field in Game 7 of the NLCS in Milwaukee will be remembered forever in Los Angeles. In 2021, he made his first All-Star team and then capped that campaign by drilling a walk-off homer in the NL Wild Card game, propelling the club to an NLCS appearance. In 2022, he signed a long-term deal to stay with the franchise and in 2023, he married Mary Keller and together, their efforts to make Los Angeles and Chris’s hometown of Virginia Beach a better place have resulted in this nomination.

In 2020, Chris and Mary started the CT3 Foundation, which works to raise funds for children with cancer and other life-altering conditions as well as raising awareness for those vulnerable in their local communities. To date, the foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support those in need. A few of the sponsors and organizations they have partnered with include Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Variety Boys and Girls Club in Boyle Heights, Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters (VA) and the Roc Solid Foundation (VA). A full synopsis of Chris’ commitment to the Los Angeles community can be found at MLB.com/Clemente21.

The Dodgers plan to honor Taylor on the field prior to their game against the San Francisco Giants on September 21. 

“I’m truly humbled to represent the Dodgers as the Roberto Clemente Award nominee,” said Taylor. “Mary and I are incredibly proud to be a part of both the Los Angeles and Virginia Beach communities and to be recognized for trying to give something back to these great places and people is something I will hold in my heart forever.”

Friday, September 15^th marks the 22^nd 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 customized tribute video to Roberto 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.

• English-version: https://www.mlb.com/video/roberto-clemente-award
• Spanish-version:https://www.mlb.com/es/video/premio-roberto-clemente

The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be honored at the 2023 World Series following selection by a blue-ribbon panel. This panel includes representatives from the Commissioner’s Office, Capital One, MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 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 viaMLBTogether.com/clemente21 (in both English and Spanish). The site, which will feature bios of each of the nominees, will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, October 1^st. 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 tribute to Clemente following his passing.

The distinguished list of past Roberto Clemente Award winners includes 19 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame:

 The distinguished list of past Roberto Clemente Award winners includes 20 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame:

+ Member of The National Baseball Hall of Fame; *Co-winner; **Originally known as the Commissioner’s Award (prior to 1973)