Manny Machado Named Padres Nominee For the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award Presented By Capital One
Major League Baseball announced this morning that Manny Machado was named the Padres 2024 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.
Since his arrival in 2019, Machado has been one of the most active and involved players in the community. In 2023, he has taken his commitment to the next level as a means of carrying on the philanthropic and caring spirit of late Padres Owner Peter Seidler. This included immediately jumping at the opportunity to participate in the newly created Peter Seter Legacy Projects and specifically, devoting himself to a cause that was near and dear to Peter's heart: homelessness. Manny has been instrumental in personally funding and motivating the development of The San Diego Rescue Mission's South County Light House, offering men, women and families dedicated care to assist with the proper steps in ending their homelessness.
In addition to his efforts with the San Diego Rescue Mission, Machado and the club teamed to form the new "Be A Pro And Always Go" program to address the school district"s most pressing issue in chronically low attendance rates. The campaign was formed alongside the San Diego Unified School District and features Machado encouraging students to attend school and a promise from Machado himself to visit the classroom with the elementary school with the greatest improvement in attendance and provide game tickets to the entire school as incentive to schools around the county. As a result,attendance rates improved by nearly five percent countywide, triggering significant increases in state funding, particularly with schools in areas of need.
On top of the new initiatives that Machado took on this year, he continued his annual contributions including hosting disadvantaged children from around San Diego and Baja as part of his "Manny's Hot Corner" program and a holiday surprise visit to a local elementary school to help deliver new bikes at a school assembly. He also embodies what it means to be a true international ambassador of the game as he led the charge in joining Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and other teammates at a local youth clinic during the team's visit to Seoul in March of this year. He did the same in 2023 during the Mexico City Series further reinforcing the global reach of Major League Baseball.
Even while managing the new challenges and joys of fatherhood, Machado has managed to find time to launch his own foundation, Team Machado - The Sky's the Limit. This foundation aims to support underprivileged youth in San Diego, Miami and the Dominican Republic. One favorite event that Machado has been hosting for the last four years provides backpacks and school supplies to foster children in Citrus Family Care Network and South Florida Foster and Adoptive Parent Association. His ability to balance his personal life with such significant community involvement is a testament to his commitment. Manny Machado has become a favorite player in San Diego – not just for what he does on the field, but also for his positive impact in the community.
Sunday, September 15th marks the 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 Clemente and the 30 Roberto Clemente Award nominees will be shown in all MLB ballparks on Roberto Clemente Day as well as on MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.tv, Club sites and MLB Social Media Platforms.
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Capital One will be honored at the 2024 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 via MLBTogether.com/clementeaward (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, September 29th. 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 as tribute to Clemente following his passing while delivering relief supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua on December 31, 1972.