By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez has been honored with one of the most prestigious awards in Major League Baseball, being named the 2024 winner of the Roberto Clemente Award.
The award annually recognizes recognizes a Major League player who best represents baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions. Perez is the first Royal ever to win the award.
Perez is the heart and soul of the Royals. He has spent his entire career with the organization and is the fourth captain in Royals history. The 34-year-old is a nine-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove catcher and four-time Silver Slugger who was the World Series MVP when the Royals won their second title in 2015. But Perez says, this honor means more than all of those accolades, except maybe the World Series.
“It means a lot to me,” Perez says. “I’ve read a lot about Roberto Clemente. I know he was an amazing player, but he was even better outside the field. So that’s what made him super special. And it makes this award super special.”
Perez’s philanthropic efforts are truly global, from Colombia to his native country, Venezuela, to the United States and Kansas City. In Venezuela, Perez and his family distribute food and kitchen supplies to around 2,000 homes in his hometown of Valencia. Perez has paid for cleft-lip surgeries for kids, donates to children’s hospitals and supports police officers.
He and his family also established a youth league that has grown to over 200 players, providing well-kept fields, coaches, equipment and financial support. Perez also takes time to speak to the league about leading successful lives, including the importance of education and the dangers of drugs.
In Kansas City, Perez made a $1 million donation to the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy when it opened. He hosted over 100 kids from Kansas City’s urban core for a baseball clinic while providing funding that allowed each participant to go home with a backpack filled with school supplies. Perez is constantly finding ways to provide baseball equipment to kids in need so they can love the game as much as he does.
A video in August went viral of Perez playing wiffleball with some children in his neighborhood in their backyard. What was a simple moment for Perez, was a life changing moment for those kids. Perez, whose always smiling, will never say no to an autograph or photo.
He encourages his teammates to find what they’re passionate about off the field, too.
“Even if you do one thing one day every month, that’s it,” Perez said. “One day every month to make someone happy. Do something. Get on your social media and make someone happy. Maybe stop and take a picture with somebody. I think that’s going to change the world. That’s the way I look at it. That’s why I take pictures with everybody.
“... We make people’s lives change for like 10-20 seconds [of our time]. When I did the Wiffle game, all these kids and parents came to me and said, ‘You changed my son’s life.’ How cool is that? When people tell you that, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, thank God. I’m doing my job.’ Pretty cool.”
Royals reporter Anne Rogers contributed to this report
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.