A five-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glover, four-time Silver Slugger winner and a runner-up in both Rookie of the Year and MVP voting, Francisco Lindor is familiar with the spectrum of awards that are handed out late in the year.
For several reasons, the hardware he received in 2026 means a bit more.
“To me this honor, this award, it’s probably one of the most important awards in MLB,” said Lindor, the recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award. “Just because it’s not about myself. It’s about my family, my parents, how much they have instilled in me to give and share the blessings that I have had.”
The Roberto Clemente Award is bestowed upon the player “who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field,” MLB says. The Mets’ star shortstop had been nominated for the humanitarian award in every year since 2023, and his fourth nod brought recognition that is particularly resonant for a Puerto Rico native.
The accolade is earned, with Lindor pouring time and money into endeavors from education to leadership in communities in Queens, his high school alma mater in Florida and his home island.
Through a partnership with New Balance, he annually provides hundreds of students with backpacks and school supplies. He has donated more than $1 million to Montverde Academy in Florida. New this season was “Lindor’s Leaders,” a leadership initiative for Bayside High School’s Sports Medicine Program.
“I didn’t go to college,” Lindor said over Zoom late last week. “My education comes through the lower school, middle school, high school, and through the people I’ve met in my life that have put me in conversations, that have put me in rooms to gain knowledge. And that’s kind of the thing I do with the high school and the Lindor Leaders.
“I have conversations with young people that are growing and going to be the next fathers, the next mothers of the world and the next engineers, doctors, and just having conversations with them.”
Among his other charitable efforts: financial support for Puerto Rico following hurricanes; a partnership with Dairy Queen and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in support of Miracle Treat Day, helping raise money for local children’s hospitals; “Lindor Smile Tuesdays,” which educates local kids about dental hygiene; a collaboration with Seen, a nonprofit that aims to help families affected by disability and medical hardship and is especially personal for Lindor, who has a disabled stepsister.
With the award, Lindor follows in the footsteps of Clemente, a Puerto Rican star who died in a plane crash while trying to deliver aid to Nicaragua.
“I remember going to history classes in Puerto Rico for second, third, fourth grade,” Lindor said. “And you learn about the Indios, the Taínos, which are natives. You learn about Roberto Clemente, and you learn about Spaniards and Christopher Columbus. It’s so cool to sit here and to be recognized for going out there to the communities.”
Lindor is the first Met to win the award since Curtis Granderson in 2016 and fifth ever (also joining Carlos Delgado, Al Leiter and Gary Carter).
“To be part of a fraternity, a community that of all the recipients that have won this award, guys like Delgado, [Carlos] Beltrán, Edgar Martínez, guys that I grew up idolizing — the Molinas,” said Lindor, who was set to receive the award before Monday’s Game 3 of the World Series. “There’s so many big names that represented the game the right way on the field, but off the field they were even greater. And to be part of this community, it means the world.
“I’m super excited. I’m blessed. I’m honored. I’m humbled by it.”
