Baseball is back in Puerto Rico once again. According to an MLB Press Release: The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Miami Marlins are set to play a two-game series in 2016. The series will take place at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 30th-31st, 2016. The series will be counted as two home games for the Marlins. This will be the first time that regular season games are being played in Puerto Rico since the Marlins and the New York Mets had a three-game series back in June 2010.
A highlight to look forward to for the Pirates and MLB, will be that one of the games will fall on Roberto Clemente Day. The day honors Pirates legend and Hall Of Famer Roberto Clemente, who was also a Puerto Rico native. The observance of Roberto Clemente Day will fall on May 31st, the same day that the second game of the series will be played. May 31st, 2016 will be the 15th year anniversary of Roberto Clemente Day.
In addition to the game and celebration of Roberto Clemente Day, MLB will announce the names of the 30 Club nominees for the 2016 Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes a Major League player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement. Every Major League Baseball team annually nominates one player to go up for consideration of the Roberto Clemente Award. This past year’s Roberto Clemente Award winner was Pirates outfielder, Andrew McCutchen.
In a news column written by Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Pirates president Frank Coonelly gave praise to the legacy of Roberto Clemente:
“Roberto Clemente embodied what it means to be a Pittsburgh Pirate, a player of great determination, grit and skill on the field who also embraced the more weighty obligation to make a difference in the lives of others off the field,”
“We very much look forward to bringing 2015 Roberto Clemente Award-winner Andrew McCutchen and the rest of the 2016 Pirates to Roberto’s homeland to take on the Miami Marlins before the passionate baseball fans in Puerto Rico.
Clemente played 18 seasons for the Pirates and won the MVP award in 1966. He died in a plane crash in 1972 while on his way to Nicaragua to deliver supplies to the disaster worn country after an earthquake. Clemente was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
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