September fifteenth, 2023
On Friday, MLB celebrated the twenty second annual Roberto Clemente Day, honoring the legacy of considered one of baseball’s biggest gamers and humanitarians almost 51 years after his tragic passing.
Clemente, a local of Puerto Rico, died in a aircraft crash on the age of 38 on New 12 months’s Eve 1972 whereas delivering emergency support to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was inducted into the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame in 1973, changing into the first player from Latin America to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
A 15-time All-Star and 12-time Gold Glove Award winner, Clemente completed his profession with exactly 3,000 hits, received 4 batting titles and was named the 1966 NL MVP. He additionally helped the Pirates win two World Collection championships and earned MVP honors after Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore within the 1971 Fall Basic, having hit .414 with two homers and a 1.210 OPS within the Pirates’ seven-game overcome the Orioles.
MLB established Roberto Clemente Day in 2002 and continues to have fun the late Corridor of Famer each Sept. 15, which coincides with the beginning of Nationwide Hispanic Heritage Month.
Clemente is clearly a very particular determine in Pittsburgh, and now within the Metal Metropolis and throughout all the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, September 15 may even formally be generally known as Roberto Clemente Day, following a proclamation ceremony that happened within the shadow of The Nice One’s statue at PNC Park.
On Friday morning, Pirates Clemente Award nominee David Bednar, Pirates workers and accomplice volunteers, visited sufferers on the Allegheny Well being Community Most cancers Institute. The group handed out breakfast pastries, espresso and ticket vouchers to Most cancers Institute workers and sufferers and likewise made and delivered care/consolation packages to sufferers.
This effort was a part of the Pirates’ Day of Service, which occurred concurrently all through Pittsburgh. Each participant and coach on the lively roster participated. Different efforts embody a renovation mission to enhance the Southside Nike RBI area, a meals preparation and re-stocking service occasion at a Ladies’s Heart & Shelter, a care bundle construct at PNC Park in assist of lively army service males & girls and a pantry & toy donation on the Pittsburgh Latino Neighborhood Heart.
All gamers and on-field personnel throughout baseball will put on “21” patches on their uniform chests on Friday in honor of Clemente, who donned No. 21 all through his esteemed profession.
All Pirates gamers and members of the teaching workers wore No. 21 for Friday’s sport in opposition to the Yankees, with Joshua Palacios carrying a Puerto Rico flag with him out to proper area to begin the sport.
All 2023 nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award introduced by Capital One, which acknowledges MLB gamers for philanthropic efforts of their communities, may even have the choice of sporting No. 21, becoming a member of gamers from Puerto Rico and others who wore the quantity throughout earlier commemorations of Roberto Clemente Day.
Moreover, all lively gamers who’ve beforehand received the Roberto Clemente Award will wore a “21” patch on the again of their caps in recognition of this distinct honor.
Followers can be taught extra concerning the efforts of this 12 months’s Roberto Clemente Award nominees and take part within the voting course of by visiting this website.
