Major League Baseball today announced that Cleveland Indians closer BRAD HAND was named Cleveland’s 2020 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, baseball’s most prestigious individual honor for Major Leaguers.
The Roberto Clemente Award 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. Wednesday, September 9th marks the 19th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy as a humanitarian and to officially acknowledge local 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 special tribute video will be played in ballparks.
Hand is one of the 30 Club nominees for the annual award. Brad and his wife Morgan have made Northeast Ohio a better place with the work they have done in the community over the last year. Brad immediately got involved in the community when he arrived in Cleveland from San Diego. In 2019, Brad developed the Helping Hand’s program, bringing kids from the Northeast Ohio Boys & Girls Programs to Progressive Field for a surprise visit during batting practice. In 2020, Helping Hands has gone virtual, surprising those in recovery at Ohio Guidestone’s Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation program with gift cards and a meet & greet. Additionally in 2020, Hand hosted a drive-in, Indians game watch party at Ohio Guidestone for rehab residents, providing them Tribe gear for their sober outing. This summer, Brad and Morgan donated $3,500 worth of baseball equipment to local youth teams and met virtually with youth from a local rec center. The Hand family continues to engage with youth from Ohio Guidestone, making a $1,500 donation of school supplies to Stepstone Academy in advance of the 2020-21 school year and meeting virtually with three Stepstone Academy families during the season.
In the past year, Brad and Morgan have involved their kids in community work as well, having them do the gift shopping for an adopted family over the holidays through Cleveland’s Salvation Army. Their daughter Lila made bracelets during the COVID-19 pandemic and sent them to Cleveland area nursing homes.
“Carlos Carrasco’s work and Roberto Clemente Award in 2020 inspired our entire organization to do even more in our community in 2020,” said Vice President of Communications and Community Impact Curtis Danburg. “Brad and his family have picked up right where the Carrasco’s left off, uniting our Northeast Ohio community through generous donations and programs giving back to multiple organizations across our city.”
“It’s a great award, and I’m honored to be our nominee this year for the Cleveland Indians,” said Hand. “The award itself means you’re being a good teammate, a good person, trying to give back in the community in whatever way you can be. Obviously, with two young kids, I just want to show them how to be giving and it’s something we want to instill in them to help out in the community.”
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS), MLB.com, as well as Roberto’s children, Enrique,Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr. Beginning today, fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award via mlb.com/clemente21. The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, September 27th. 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 in honor of the Hall of Famer and 15-time All-Star who died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
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