Perez, a nine-time All-Star catcher for the Royals and likely future Hall of Famer, received the Roberto Clemente Award Monday night in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium before Game 3 of the World Series.

The 34-year-old Perez has already been nominated for baseball's top award for charitable activities off the field. He has provided food and medicine each winter to families in his Venezuelan hometown of Valencia, and has also funded thousands of surgeries for children to repair cleft lips. Perhaps most notably, he supported relief efforts in neighboring Colombia during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, entering the country on foot when traveling by car was banned.

He also donated $1 million to the Royals' youth academy in Kansas City.

Earlier this year, a video showing Perez playing whiffleball with children in a Kansas City neighborhood gained momentum on social media, a tribute to Perez's everyman ethos and, in some ways, his approach, time and resources sacrifice.