Aaron Judge won the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award for the 2023 season
On October 30, it was announce that Aaron Judge, who won the 2022 American League MVP, was awarded the 2023 Roberto Clemente Award. He is the fourth Yankee to win this prestigious award. The previous Yankees to get this honor were Ron Guidry (1984), Don Baylor (1985) and Derek Jeter (2009).
According to the YES Network, with his All Rise Foundation, the Yankees captain represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions.
Clemente’s humanitarian legacy is forever engrained in Major League Baseball. He had it as his mission to give back to his homeland as much as possible and be a role model. He was delivering supplies to victims of an earthquake when he died in a plane crash in 1973.
On the field, Clemente was a 15-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glove winner, a four-time batting average champion, an MVP winner, a World Series MVP winner and the first Latin American superstar. He is a role model in Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America. He is still third all time in WAR among Latin players. He finished his career, which tragically ended after the 1972 season, with exactly 3,000 hits, 240 homers, 440 doubles, 1,305 RBI, a .317 average and a 130 OPS+.
In 2016, ESPN ranked Clemente as the third best right fielder of all time after Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Clemente is without a doubt one of the best defensive right fielders of all time and his throwing arm was elite.
Clemente’s legendary drive to help those who were in need inspires philanthropy among current Major League Baseball players. Many MLB players have foundations and give back in various ways. Judge gives back through his All Rise Foundation and its other initiatives.
Each year each team nominates one player for the Roberto Clemente award, which is the most esteemed and respected award in baseball because it is an award for the difference that the players make off of the field. The award recognizes dedication to community service, philanthropy and sportsmanship.
The contributions of this years award nominees have impacted thousands through initiatives that have included the support of educational equity, autism awareness and the fight against childhood cancer (among others). MLB combined with the Roberto Clemente Foundation and Capital One (the sponsor of the award) are appreciative of all of the award nominees and were happy to give the award to the current Yankees captain.
Judge’s All Rise Foundation was founded in 2018 when he was in his third MLB season. His foundation and in turn the aspiring leaders program is dedicated to inspiring children of all ages to become responsible citizens. In it’s first year, All Rise hosted baseball camps focused on developing positive character traits. It also works relentlessly to support children with difficult health issues. These are very commendable and noteworthy initiatives and goals for the foundation.
The foundation’s aspiring leaders program encourages and rewards academic excellence and improvement, opening doors to brighter futures. In its six years, the foundation has supported more than two thousand youth from coast to coast (he concentrates in NYC and where he grew up in northern California) through more than 25 community based organizations.
His foundation has supported over 2,000 youth in San Joaquin County (CA), Fresno County (CA) and The Bronx and those 25 community based organization through mini grants. Judge also partners with the #icanhelp initiative that is aimed at combating toxic behavior on social media. Bullying and harassment on social media often goes to far so it is good that Judge and his foundation is trying to prevent this.
In 2023, Judge’s foundation really accomplished a lot. It participated in BEAD (Bronx Educational All-Star Day with the Yankees), it hosted Leadership Master Classes attended by classrooms around the country, it awarded six mini-grants to organizations who share their mission to positively impact youth, it sponsored high school students at leadership conferences, it launched the Aaron Judge All Rise Book Club and it held their second baseball camp in NYC with the one and only Aaron Judge. The next All Rise Foundation NYC Gala will be on January 24, 2024
Judge’s foundation and dedication to giving back reflects the humanitarian spirit of Clemente himself.
“We are very, very proud that you are the winner this year,” Roberto Clemente’s son said. “Congratulations.”
Judge said he was at home in California visiting his parents with his wife when he got the call that he won the award. He was working out with his wife and was notified by the Yankees PR director Jason Zillo. He actually initially thought it was a trade when Zillo told him that it was an important call.
He said he was speechless when he received the good news about winning the prestigious award. He then Facetimed his mom and gave her the positive news. Judge referenced the amount of hard work and dedication his mom puts into his foundation.
Since 2007, the Roberto Clemente Award has been presented by Chevy. Chevy donates money and a Chevy vehicle to the recipient’s charity of choice and additional money is donated by Chevy to the Roberto Clemente Sports City, a non-profit organization in Carolina, Puerto Rico, that provides national sports activities for children. Chevy donates additional funds to the charity of choice of each of the 30 club nominees.
Judge was asked in his Roberto Clemente Award acceptance press conference how his time at college at Fresno State (two hours south and east from where he grew up in Linden, CA) and being in the Central Valley area impacted him and molded him into who he is today. When he was a junior, which was his last season at Fresno State, he was all conference for a third year in a row. He had team highs in homers (12), doubles (15) and RBI (36). He finished his final season with 76 hits and a very impressive .461 OBP. He was drafted in the first round (32nd pick) by the Yankees in 2013. His said his years at Fresno State were pivotal ones.
“You are coming out of high school,” Judge said. You really don’t know what you want to do with your life. I knew I loved playing baseball and wanted to play baseball. I got an opportunity to continue my education and my career at Fresno State. The memories I made there with a wonderful coaching staff and even all the teammates I had that pushed me and motivated me along the way. Out of high school I got drafted but I just knew that physically I was not ready and even mentally I was not mature enough to take that next step. Those three years at Fresno State, to mature on the field but also as an individual and young man off the field, it just really shaped me and prepared me into this next jump into pro baseball for the New York Yankees. There are so many lessons that I learned there from the coach, my teammates and the community that supported us so well. The Red Wave show up in numbers and I still go back to this day. I look back on those days with some great memories.”
The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to a player who demonstrates the values that Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente displayed in his commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others. The winner is selected from 30 nominees during the World Series. Originally called the Commissioner’s Award, the honor was named for Clemente in 1973. The award was renamed after Clemente following his death in a plane crash while he was delivering supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.
Willie Mays and Brooks Robinson won the award in the first two years when it was still known as the Commissioner’s Award and then Al Kaline won the award in 1973 when it was first officially called the Roberto Clemente Award. Kaline was an 18-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove winner and finished just one homer away from 400.
Willie Stargell won the award in 1974, Lou Brock won it in 1975, Pete Rose won it in 1976 and Rod Carew won it in 1977. Six of the first seven award winners are in the Hall of Fame and Rose would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer if not for his gambling on baseball.
The first non Hall of Famer or all time great player to win the award was Greg “The Bull” Luzinski of the Phillies in 1978. He was a four-time All-Star with the Phillies and received his Roberto Clemente Award for his involvement in local community affairs. He was one of the Phillies to buy seats at games to impoverished kids.
Yankees players Guidry and Baylor won the award in back-to-back years in 1984 and 1985. Guidry was a four-time All-Star, won one Cy Young, won the Gold Glove five times and was the AL ERA leader twice. Baylor’s playing career lasted from 1970 to 1988 and he played for the Yankees from 1983–1985. He was an All-Star once, an AL MVP once, he was a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner and led the AL in RBI in 1979. Baylor was the first manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies in 1993 and was an MLB manager for eight more seasons and was a MLB coach for eight different teams.
Jeter won his Roberto Clemente Award in 2009 for his impactful work with his Turn 2 Foundation. Turn 2’s mission is to create and support signature programs and activities that motivate young people to turn away from drugs and alcohol and “Turn 2” healthy lifestyles. Through these ventures, the Foundation strives to create outlets that promote and reward academic excellence, leadership development and positive behavior. In Jeter’s rookie season with the Yankees in 1996 he and his father Charles created the foundation to motivate the youth to turn away from drugs and alcohol and Turn 2 healthy lifestyles.
His Turn 2 Foundation focuses on NYC, where Jeter played his 20 Hall of Fame season with the Yankees, Tampa, where the Yankees had spring training, and Michigan, which is where Jeter grew up and went to high school. He spent many summers in New Jersey when he was growing up. From 1996 through 2021, Turn 2 has given back more than $34 million, funding its signature programs as well as organizations that support its mission.
Judge is following in a similar legacy as Jeter as they are both Yankees captains, Roberto Clemente Award winners, have impactful foundations that give back to the community and are faces of the franchise. Judge was named captain before the 2023 season started, which meant he was named captain in his eighth season with the Yankees. Jeter was named captain in the 2003 season, which was his ninth season with the Yankees. Judge still does not have a championship so he needs that to even more follow in Jeter’s footsteps.
Jeter won five World Series championships and the closest Judge has come is getting to Game Seven of the ALCS in his rookie season in 2017. Judge played well in his most meaningful games to that point as he had three homers and seven RBI in that ALCS.
