Jamie Moyer presented with Roberto Clemente award

The Associated Press

MIAMI — Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer won the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on the field and in the community Tuesday.

"What a great honor," Moyer said before Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and Florida Marlins.

"Roberto Clemente may be the greatest humanitarian in the game of baseball. A great player, he set many great examples when I was a young boy on the field. I was living across the state in Pennsylvania, and realizing, hoping to realize, a dream come true."

Each major league team nominates a player for the Clemente Award, and the winner is selected by a committee that includes commissioner Bud Selig and Vera Clemente, Roberto's wife.

"Jamie, congratulations. There are a lot of awards in a year, but you're really what every athlete should be and we're very proud to make this presentation," Selig said.

Clemente's Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Pirates ended suddenly and sadly when he died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve, 1972, while trying to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

He finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits. The award was named in Clemente's honor in 1973, and players are eligible to win only once.

Moyer and his wife, Karen, created the Moyer Foundation to assist children and families struggling through difficult times. The foundation has raised almost $3 million in support of more than 100 organizations.

Moyer received a handsome statue that depicts Clemente finishing his swing. John Hancock also donated $25,000 to the Moyer Foundation and $30,000 in Moyer's name to the Roberto Clemente Sports City in Puerto Rico.

Vera Clemente was on hand at the ceremony, as were two of Roberto's sons.

Moyer has been one of baseball's best pitchers since joining the Mariners in the middle of the 1996 season. The soft-tossing left-hander went 21-7 with a 3.27 ERA this season. At age 40, he went to the All-Star game for the first time in his 17-year career.

Willie Mays was the first winner of the award in 1971, and others include Pete Rose, Cal Ripken Jr. and Sammy Sosa. Jim Thome was honored last year