Major League Baseball today 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 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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