Giants' Brandon Crawford nominated for Roberto Clemente Award for MVP performance in community

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco Giants are embarking on another playoff run after a franchise-record 107 wins, en route to the NL West title. Longtime shortstop Brandon Crawford has not only played at an MVP level on the field, but his contributions off the field have been just as big.

Recently, the Pleasanton native was honored as the Giants nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors a Major League Baseball player for not only their outstanding play on the field, but for their character, work in the community and overall contributions to promote the game of baseball.

"It's definitely special," said Crawford. "It's one of the cooler awards you can be nominated for as a baseball player because it's named after such a good baseball player and such a great person (Roberto Clemente)."

This season, Crawford teamed up with the Giants Community Fund and several other organizations to renovate Gilman Field, located in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunter's Point neighborhood.

"Before the 2016 season there was talk beforehand that a percentage of my contract would be going to the Giants Community Fund. We ended up landing on the Gilman Field project because my history growing up in the Bay Area and going to Candlestick and with Gilman being in the shadow of Candlestick it was nice," said Crawford.

After learning about fellow Pleasanton native and Oakland A's outfielder Stephen Piscotty's mother's death from ALS in 2018, Crawford along with his father Mike decided to support the Piscotty family's mission to find a cure for ALS. The ALS Cure Project became the beneficiary of the annual Crawford Family Golf Tournament in 2019 and has raised more than $200,000 as they search for a cure.

Crawford and his wife Jalynne have also teamed up with former Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen and his wife Maria to collaborate for "Catch a Cure," where proceeds from a clothing line benefit the Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

"Brandon has been philanthropic throughout his entire career," said Giants manager Gabe Kapler. "Whether he's playing at the level he's played at this year or winning a World Series title, he's always been and his family has always been pretty invested in the community and doing good work. As good a candidate as there is in the league."

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