The Dodgers are again in the mix for baseball’s most meaningful off-field honor, and this year the spotlight lands on Will Smith as the club’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.
Mookie Betts already owns the distinction. So does Justin Turner. And when MLB asked past winners what the award means, both Dodgers stars offered answers that got right to the heart of it.
“It means a lot… it means you are helping communities and it’s always cool to be recognized for the work you put in off the field,” Betts wrote in his reply to MLB. “Baseball is baseball, but being a good human is central to life.”
Turner’s response carried the same weight, with a little more fire behind it.
“For me it’s the greatest honor in the game because Roberto set the bar for what it means to take our platform, this beautiful gift of playing a game for a living, and use it to give back to those in need,” Turner wrote in his reply to MLB. “He took his star power and used it to lift up those in need and enduring difficult times! Roberto was a humanitarian who happened to be great at baseball!!!!”
The Roberto Clemente Award stands as baseball’s top individual honor, recognizing the player who best reflects the game through character, community work, philanthropy and positive impact on and off the field. Each team submits one nominee, with the Dodgers sending Smith into the race this season.
Betts was named the 2025 Roberto Clemente Award winner, giving the Dodgers another recent name on a list that already includes Turner, Clayton Kershaw and Steve Garvey. The franchise’s other Clemente winners came before them, with Kershaw honored in 2012 and Garvey in 1981.
MLB’s social media campaign also featured other former winners sharing their thoughts, including former Dodgers Curtis Granderson and Jimmy Rollins, both of whom won the award with different teams, along with Nelson Cruz, who works in the Dodgers’ player development system.
The award’s winner is chosen by a panel of sportswriters and baseball dignitaries, with fan voting counting as one vote alongside those from the blue-ribbon panel. Voting ended on Sunday, the final day of the 2026 regular season.
The league-wide winner will be honored at the 2026 World Series. The selection committee includes representatives from the commissioner’s office, Capital One, MLB-affiliated networks, MLB.com, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Roberto Clemente’s children, Enrique, Luis and Roberto Clemente, Jr.
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