By Alfredo Echenique
31 Oct 2023, 10:44 AM EDT
This Monday the captain of the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge, was chosen as the winner of the Roberto Clemente award of the season. This award is given to players who stand out in their work off the field in helping the community.
Judge in 2018 created a foundation called ALL RISE which has the mission of inspiring children and young people to become responsible citizens through activities that motivate them to achieve limitless possibilities and with which it has helped more than 2,000 young people.
This is why the 31-year-old player was nominated by the Yankees and recently awarded the distinction for his commitment to the community and his actions off the field.
For the MLB office, the Roberto Clemente award is considered ‘the most important individual award’ they give, since it goes beyond the field of play and speaks about the character of the players.
But at the time of telling Judge the news that he had won this award. The Yankee captain imagined the worst with the call, because they told him that it was very important news and the first thing that came to mind was that he had been traded from the Yankees.
“We got a call from my representative, he said ‘Do you have a minute? This is very important,” Judge commented during the award ceremony. The American says that he was training at home with his wife when he received the call.
“Have they changed me? “What’s going on?” was the first thing Judge asked himself when his representative called him. To which he responded “Something that is very important. “Can you sit down for a moment?”
Judge, wanting to get out of the situation and know what he had to know, responds “yes, give me what you have.” But to the Yankees slugger’s surprise, the call was not to let him know of any franchise change, but to notify him that Premier Roberto Clemente had won.
“You just won the Roberto Clemente award,” they told Judge. To which the Yankees outfielder states that he was left speechless by the news.
This award has been given since 1971 and since then the 30 Major League franchises nominate one of their players to be a candidate to win the award. Last season the award went to Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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