Miguel Cabrera Named Detroit Tigers Nominee For The 2023 Roberto Clemente Award Presented By Capital One

By | September 8, 2023

Major League Baseball announced that Miguel Cabrera was named the Detroit Tigers 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.

Beginning his charitable efforts for the city in 2008, Cabrera played a pivotal role in the launch of Play Baseball Detroit, a transformative youth baseball outreach program aimed at bolstering youth baseball and softball programs in the greater Detroit region that reaches over 10,000 children annually.

In 2010, Cabrera's generosity extended globally, with substantial donations to Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc., providing critical medical relief to those affected by the earthquake in January of that year. He also demonstrated a deep commitment to the local community by supporting youth baseball programming through contributions to the Clark Park Coalition in a predominantly Hispanic community. Furthermore, Cabrera's efforts reached the Miracle League of Michigan, providing invaluable support to children with special needs.

In 2011, Cabrera purchased jerseys for the Detroit RBI team, allowing them to participate in the regional tournament. Additionally, he assumed the role of host for the annual Keeping Kids in the Game event, solidifying his commitment to fostering youth development through sports.

In 2012, Miguel’s dream of becoming an accomplished baseball player inspired him and his wife, Rosangel, to establish the Miguel Cabrera Foundation, a charitable organization founded on belief that we can achieve great things when we work hard, dream big and help others. Through a collaborative effort with the Detroit Tigers Foundation, the foundation launched "Cabrera’s Chamitos," a program providing Tigers game tickets and t-shirts to charitable organizations for children that could otherwise not afford to see the Tigers play at Comerica Park.

In 2015, Cabrera hosted a series of free youth baseball events called "Miggy Ball" in his native Venezuela, providing hundreds of boys and girls between the ages of 8-10 the chance to learn from a baseball icon and play on a professional ball field.

In 2017, Cabrera established the Cabrera Family Scholarship endowment, awarding two annual renewable college scholarships to first-generation college students in Michigan and South Florida, underscoring his dedication to educational empowerment.

Responding to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Cabrera and his wife, Rosangel, donated $250,000 to provide crucial resources such as meals for children, technology for students, daycare for families and high-quality face masks for Detroiters.

In 2021, Cabrera joined Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as a co-chair for the Protect Michigan Commission, promoting COVID-19 vaccinations in the State of Michigan, recording PSAs in English and Spanish to motivate residents to get vaccinated, wear masks and socially distance to reduce the spread of the virus.

Cabrera will be recognized as the Tigers nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award in a pre-game ceremony on Friday, September 29, prior to Detroit’s game against the Cleveland Guardians.

Friday, September 15th marks the 22nd 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.

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 via MLBTogether.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 1st. 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.

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