Baltimore Orioles: Chris Davis nominated for Roberto Clemente Award

The Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis was nominated for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, but he did not win.

Instead of the award going to the Baltimore Orioles power hitter, Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs.

The nominees were announced in early September, but the finalist was announced today, Oct. 27.

Conditions for nomination

According to MLB.com, the Roberto Clemente Award honors current MLB players who “best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” Each ball club has one nominee, but one finalist is chosen from the 30 ball clubs. There is not a separate winner from each league.

The award was first given out in 1971 to Willie Mays, but it was called the Commissioners Award. After Clemente died in a plane crash while on a charitable mission from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame website, his body was never recovered. The season after his death, the Commissioners Award was renamed in Clemente’s honor.

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Over the many years that his honor has been bestowed to MLB players, several Orioles have won. In the last year that it was called the Commissioners Award in 1972, Brooks Robinson won it. In 1982, Ken Singleton won. Cal Ripken, Jr. won in 1992 and in 1997, Eric Davis won it. No Orioles have won since then.

Davis’s charities

Davis was nominated this season for the numerous charities he and his wife support. According to the MLB press release about his nomination. Davis is involved in no fewer than six organizations that support children as well as animals. He is involved in the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, Inc., and the OriolesREACH Gameday Experience Program, to name a few. In July, the “Crush’s Homers for Heart” raised over $100,000 for the Pediatric Heart Program at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital. He also pledged $1,000 to the same program for each home run he hit in 2017 – he hit 26 long balls this season.

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Several players on the team are involved in charitable organizations. For example, Manny Machado hosts an annual bowling tournament to support the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Adam Jones has been involved in charitable events that benefit the Boys and Girls Club. But, it is clear that Davis was highly deserving of the honor of the nomination in 2017.