Major League Baseball has announced that Joe Mauer was named the Minnesota Twins 2018 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, the most prominent individual player award bestowed by MLB.
The Roberto Clemente Award is the annual recognition of a player from each MLB Club who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
Joe Mauer is one of the 30 Club nominees for the annual award. He and his wife Maddie annually host the Mauer and Friends Kids Classic luncheon event to benefit Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. In its fourth year the event has raised more than $1 million for the hospital’s foundation. Joe brings teammates to Gillette to see patients often, serves as spokesman and annually hosts a bowling fundraiser for the Highland Friendship Club and also has supported Friends of St. Paul Baseball, an organization that helps improve baseball facilities for youth in St. Paul.
Additionally, Mauer established a community ticket program called Mauer’s Minnies, providing Twins game tickets to thousands of economically disadvantaged youth from Minneapolis and St. Paul. Since 2005, 25,000 youth and their families have attended a Twins game for free because of Mauer’s generous contributions. He also acts as a spokesman and mentor to the MLB Player’s Association’s Action Team. In partnership with Volunteers of America, the Action Team enlists high school students to recruit others to volunteer in their community. Joe meets with Action Team members and mentors them on their outreach work.
