'Super special': Salvy honored with 2024 Clemente Award

In 2007, then-Royals ESL instructor Monica Ramirez taught young Latin American players English in a small Quality Inn conference room-turned-makeshift classroom. One of her students was a 17-year-old Salvador Perez.

The room was tiny with no air conditioning and 15 teenage boys crammed in during the middle of summer. Ramirez was pregnant at the time and remembers the atmosphere being “not great,” she says with a laugh.

“I was strict on them, and they weren’t always happy to be learning from me there, but still we got through it,” said Ramirez, who now holds the title of Royals Education/ESL and Latin American initiatives coordinator and has been helping young Latin American players for nearly two decades.

One of the workbooks Ramirez used back then had biographies written on the final few pages. They spent the last part of class on those hot afternoons reading out loud and answering comprehension questions.

This is when Perez first learned who Roberto Clemente was and the legacy the Hall of Famer left behind.

Now 17 years later, Perez is the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award winner, one of baseball’s most prestigious awards that annually recognizes a Major League player who best represents baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions.

The first Royal ever to win the Clemente 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.

Winning the Roberto Clemente Award means more than all of those accolades, except maybe the World Series, Perez said.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “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.”

It’s fitting that Perez learned about Clemente in the classroom with Ramirez, whom Perez cherishes as much as anyone else in the Royals organization. In 2019, Ramirez established the Carlos Fortuna Organization in Colombia in honor of the 22-year-old Royals player who died in ‘13 after a three-year battle with liver cancer. The non-profit facilitates parental training for mothers, fathers and caregivers of kids who plan to be enrolled in a baseball academy/program.

Perez played with Fortuna and regularly assists the foundation. In 2020, Perez crossed the border from Venezuela to Colombia on foot to make it to an event, despite the strict travel guidelines and significant personal risk.

“It just makes my heart sing with joy because if anybody deserves this award, it’s him,” Ramirez said. “When you see somebody get what they deserve, especially when people don’t look for the recognition, it’s a very special feeling.”

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.

“Especially in our country, when you try to make kids think about sports, they’re not going to have time to think about anything else,” Perez said. “Go to school in the morning, afternoon you’re going to play baseball, you get back home and have to do your homework and go to bed. I don’t think they’re going to have time to think about bad things.”

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 when Perez stopped by a neighborhood baseball game to play with a group of kids in their backyard. He was driving home from a friend’s house on an off-day and saw the game and decided to stop.

A simple moment for him ended up being life-changing for the kids. Always smiling, Perez is happy to stop for photos and sign autographs. 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.”