St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright won’t have the chance to take home the Cy Young Award this season, but he has the chance to earn another valuable honor–the Roberto Clemente Award.
Major League Baseball announced the nominees from each team on Monday and Wainwright has been chosen to represent St. Louis.
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Besides rehabbing the Achilles injury which has kept him out of much of this season, Wainwright has once again been involved with his Big League Impact charity to raise funds through fantasy football.
“Our goal this year is to give 5,000 people clean drinking water,” Wainwright shared earlier this season. “We’re going to give 7,000 people mosquito nets to stop the spread of malaria across Africa, we’re going to do this procedure over in Africa that heals cataracts so people that are blind can now see.”
The efforts aren’t just on an international basis as Wainwright and Big League Impact are also working locally with Operation Food Search to feed people and Crisis Aid.
The Roberto Clemente Award recognizes players that positively impact the game on and off the field.
This Wednesday will mark the 14th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by MLB to honor his legacy and to officially acknowledge local club nominees of the award in his honor. The 12-time All-Star and Pirates Hall of Famer died in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972, while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
“This award represents everything Roberto stood for as a ‘good Samaritan,'” said MLB Goodwill Ambassador Vera Clemente, Roberto’s wife. “Through the Roberto Clemente Award, today’s players are recognized for these same qualities.”
Beginning on Roberto Clemente Day and concluding on Oct. 9, fans are encouraged to participate in the process of selecting the league-wide recipient by visiting ChevyBaseball.com to vote for one of the nominees.
