Comments on: Baseball announces the Roberto Clemente Award nominees

By: flavadave10

flavadave10 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:06:12 +0000

Very glad to see that Jim Johnson is getting the recognition he deserves. His contributions have always seemed to go unnoticed.

By: nbjays

nbjays — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:08:03 +0000

Nope… but I DID scroll down to see if it would be anyone but Romero, whom I expected to be the Jays’ nominee.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 04:00:26 +0000

True, you are guessing, even if you read all of the blurbs. I’m sure every candidate is worthy, but there are no criteria, no stats, to evaluate whether one guy is more worthy than another. After all, the award isn’t named after Roberto Clemente because he gave more money to charity, or made more public appearances, than others. It’s named after him because he risked — and lost — his life while doing good. Obviously, no one wants to hold that up as a standard for winning an award.

IMHO, all of the candidates are winners. Choosing one, for the sake of having only one awardee, strikes me as unnecessary.

By: jashton11

jashton11 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:44:02 +0000

His views on breastfeeding aside, LoMo does a lot to raise money for lung cancer research in memory of his father.

http://lomo4lungs.org/

By: nukeladouche

nukeladouche — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:53:38 +0000

This is one of those “intangibles” that MY brings to the game.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:53:16 +0000

R.A. Dickey shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

By: natslady

natslady — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:39:40 +0000

Exactly. Would be nice if I didn’t have to give Chevrolet my heart and soul and email address in order to vote, though.

By: whooodeyyy

whooodeyyy — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:32:05 +0000

Todd Frazier saved a man’s life this year.

By: youngwomanscreek

youngwomanscreek — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:05:04 +0000

Setting up a fan vote for this raises the issue in the public eye earlier than if there were no fan vote and it was instead just announced at some point. Perhaps a few who vote will look into what at least some of the players have done to deserve being their team’s nominee. And if that happens, it carries the entire idea of the Roberto Clemente Award forward better.
I think the fan vote serves the overall cause better, even if it does somewhat dilute who receives the award.
Which do you think Roberto Clemente would appreciate better? Making sure the right person won, or promoting the idea of community involvement?

By: nothanksimdriving123

nothanksimdriving123 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:01:52 +0000

No, but it certainly does prove that no one wants MLB to start using an instant replay system. Right Bud?

By: natslady

natslady — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:55:59 +0000

Well, that’s true, I don’t. I did have to “”unfollow” Logan Morrison on Twitter because it was grossing me out (and I’m well over 21).

I see they post a blurb on each player’s charity and his activities. So if you don’t vote for your team’s nominee, I guess you look at the blurbs and see which charities are in line with your interests. Sort of like how you decide which United Way charity you want to support, or even which School Board member you want to vote for when you haven’t the slighted knowledge of any of them except party affiliation.

So I looked up Michael Young… Nice list. Probably won’t look up everyone, though. Will just go by party, er, I mean team affiliation and vote for RZ.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:45:03 +0000

It is a damn shame that this is the only baseball blog in the world — indeed, the only blog of any sort in the world — and that you are therefore forced to read it.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:43:17 +0000

But unless you are familiar with the charitable efforts of the other 29 players on the list, aren’t you essentially just guessing? How do you know that, say, C.J. Wilson doesn’t give twice as much money and time as Zimmerman? Not saying he does, just that you are likely only familiar with one player’s case for the award, at best.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:41:31 +0000

ALL awards are Michael Young’s to lose.

By: Reflex

Reflex — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:38:22 +0000

Um, the issue is that it is about community involvement, and by adding a fan component its instead a popularity contest. Quite frankly by the nature of the award I’d have given it to Jamie Moyer every year he was qualified for it, but thats based on living in Seattle and seeing all of his community work. It does not mean that objectively he really does the most for the community, and he certainly would not meet all of the other qualifications.

Just seems odd that this would be a fan thing, I’d see it as more of a team thing, teams nominate who based on what they know of the guys in the clubhouse, and then vote on the 30 candidates.

By: The Dangerous Mabry

The Dangerous Mabry — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:34:25 +0000

I was looking for Melky Cabrera, myself, but I like the way you think.

And when I saw Miguel Cabrera’s name, I’ll admit I did a quick double take.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:31:00 +0000

(raises hand)

By: The Dangerous Mabry

The Dangerous Mabry — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:26:12 +0000

I imagine the thumbs downers think I might be insulting Santana or something, but Dickey just won the Branch Rickey award, which “honors individuals in baseball who contribute to their communities and are strong role models for young people.”

Perhaps the two awards are too similar, so teams nominate different players for them, but it just seems odd to me, that’s all.

By: metalhead65

metalhead65 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:21:44 +0000

what baseball award would be complete without craig complaining about something? and shockingly it has to do with the fans having a say in it. I mean how dare baseball involve average fans and not just saber metric expert geeks like craig?after all I am sure they have a stat for player involvment in the community right?

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:10:14 +0000

Non-Nats fans see only Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. But Ryan Zimmerman’s is still the face of the Washington Nationals. Congrats to Ryan and all the other nominees.

By: cur68

cur68 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:06:44 +0000

Guilty

By: umrguy42

umrguy42 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:57:22 +0000

All right, be honest – hands up, all those (myself included) who immediately scrolled down to see if Yunel Escobar was, by some ironic twist of fate, the Blue Jays’ nominee…

By: rockthered1286

rockthered1286 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:53:51 +0000

Just like the All Star voting process, this is nothing more than a glorified popularity contest. Except this has no effect on the WS home field advantage.

Yet.

By: natslady

natslady — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:48:34 +0000

In my opinion, community involvement is probably one aspect the "average" non-nerd fan does know about and is able to evaluate more than baseball stats. Everyone in DC knows Ryan Zimmerman's story, his MS foundation because of his mother, the fact that he has it in his contract to use Nats Park one night a year for fundraising, etc. A player can go to hospitals, food kitchens, etc., on his off-day and have photographers there, yes, but unless it's photoshopped, you do actually have to go to the hospital. If players compete for this award, more power to 'em!

By: The Common Man

The Common Man — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:46:22 +0000

This is Michael Young’s award to lose, isn’t it?

By: cur68

cur68 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:38:30 +0000

How did LoMo earn the Feesh nomination? For services to child nourishment out the line of his sight? Jeez.

By: The Dangerous Mabry

The Dangerous Mabry — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:33:58 +0000

I love Johan Santana, but how is R.A. Dickey not the Mets’ nominee here?