Indians' Carlos Carrasco Honored with Roberto Clemente Award

WASHINGTON -- Long before Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco's own leukemia diagnosis, before we all saw those photos and videos of him visiting with kids dealing with similar conditions, before his rousing return to the Major League mound last month, before he was selected as the 2019 winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, there were the scissors in the hand of young Camila Carrasco.

Camila is turning 9 soon, but she was just 4 years old that day in 2014 when she held the shears near her flowing locks and began to snip. She asked her dad -- sweetly, innocently, and, most touching of all, instinctively, without any real understanding of what cancer is -- if she could give her hair to the kids she had seen at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital who were losing theirs.

Carrasco had always contributed to the community and understood the opportunity that came with his position as a pro athlete. But that was the day that inspired him to do more.

“Everything,” he said, “started with my daughter.”

It led him here, to Game 3 of the World Series at Nationals Park, where he was set to be honored on the field pregame Friday night by Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred for his many charitable efforts both stateside and in his native Venezuela. It’s a fitting cap to an emotional 2019 season in which Carrasco was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and put in the difficult work to make a return to the Tribe pitching staff amid his treatment, all while continuing to give his time, attention and financial assistance to young leukemia patients.

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