MLB Network, Harold Reynolds eager to anchor Clemente Day coverage from Pittsburgh

JASON MACKEY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazettej
mackey@post-gazette.com 
SEP 14, 2023 3:28 PM

Harold Reynolds had a recurring joke with former MLB commissioner Bud Selig. When Reynolds won the Roberto Clemente Award while playing for the Mariners in 1991, he originally received a bronze baseball. Cool, but not this.

After MLB switched to a Heisman Trophy-style depiction of Clemente for winners of the award a number of years later, Reynolds would bring up the discrepancy to Selig while announcing the winner every World Series.

“I’d say, ‘I need one of those Heismans! I need one of them!’ ” Reynolds said. “He’d be like, ‘You’re fine, you’re fine.’ Then one year he said, ‘I have a special announcement before we get started.’ He pulled out my own new Clemente Award with the Heisman look to it. So, that sits on my mantle now. It’s pretty cool.”

The excitement surrounding Roberto Clemente Day on Friday is hardly confined to trophies. When it comes to Reynolds, he has had the date circled on his calendar for a long time. That’s because he’ll appear live from PNC Park as part of MLB Tonight on MLB Network prior to the Pirates’ game against the Yankees.

Adnan Virk, Dan O’Dowd and Cameron Maybin will be back in Secaucus, N.J., while Reynolds will be on-site, rotating through various guests and discussing all things Clemente.

It’s actually the second consecutive year Reynolds has been around the Pirates on Roberto Clemente Day, as he co-hosted from Citi Field last year, as well. But being in Pittsburgh, which Reynolds called one of his favorite cities, will mean so much more on this special day.

“Man, it’s gonna be awesome,” Reynolds said, the excitement in his voice palpable. “First of all, to be a Clemente Award winner and know the family, then to come to Pittsburgh and do a show? It’s gonna be great.”

The on-site broadcast has fit with how MLB Tonight has adjusted its format this season, taking Reynolds to various ballparks and leveraging access with players and coaches. Although the Pirates are obviously out of the playoff race, it should afford the team some national shine.

“It’ll be great to see all the guys wearing the Clemente gear, the shoes and all that stuff,” Reynolds said. “It’ll be fun. We’ll get a lot of guests. It’s quite an honor to do it.”

Spending Roberto Clemente Day in Pittsburgh carries a special meaning for Reynolds, who credited Luis and Roberto Clemente Jr. for how well they’ve preserved and promoted their father’s legacy, as well as the work done by Thomas Brasuell, MLB’s former vice president of community affairs who’s now the president of the Roberto Clemente Foundation.

Reynolds considers the award to be on the same level as the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and he’s not wrong. The Clemente Award brings out a neat, special side in players because it rewards the impact players had on others, not just statistics.

“It’s the biggest award in baseball,” Reynolds said.

It also produces a “special, exclusive” club, which includes Pirates legends Andrew McCutchen (2015) and Willie Stargell (1974). David Bednar is a two-time nominee with this year’s team.

The best example of that for Reynolds came last season, when MLB recognized a bunch of former winners in New York. One of them was Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield, someone Reynolds’ older brother Don played with in San Diego.

Harold Reynolds was amazed to learn about Winfield hosting a bunch of underprivileged kids at Padres games and also how importantly Winfield used his platform for good, deeds that led to Winfield winning the award in 1994 when he was with the Twins.

Reynolds remembered a conversation he had with Derek Jeter (2009 winner) about Winfield and how he got started with community outreach efforts.

“I asked him, ‘How’d you get started with this, Derek?’ He was like, ‘Dave Winfield was my guy when I watched the Yankees growing up. He had a foundation, and he did all this stuff,’” Reynolds said. “Dave had no idea of the impact he had on generations moving forward.

“If you look at all the things that I did in Seattle, all the things that Derek did in New York and all the stuff Winfield did in different places he played, how many thousands of people we were able to touch.”

That willingness to help others and celebrate players helping others is why Reynolds can’t wait to get to Pittsburgh and celebrate the Clemente name.

“That’s what’s cool about the exclusive group,” Reynolds said. “You get a chance to really talk to guys. It’s a very unique group of people. The accomplishment is second-to-none.”

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published September 14, 2023, 9:36am