DETROIT — Clayton Kershaw was honored Sunday with the Roberto Clemente Award, the top humanitarian honor bestowed by Major League Baseball.

Kershaw, 24, the Dodgers’ ace and the defending National League Cy Young Award winner, has visited Africa in each of the past two winters. He and his wife, Ellen, launched “Kershaw’s Challenge” and wrote the book “Arise” in helping to raise money to build an orphanage in Zambia.

Kershaw was announced as the winner at a news conference before Game 4 of the World Series, presented with the award by Commissioner Bud Selig and Vera Clemente, the widow of the Hall of Fame outfielder.

Clemente died in a plane crash in 1972 while en route to delivering earthquake relief supplies to Nicaragua.


The Clemente award “recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.”

We’ll have comments from Kershaw later.

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