Fairbanks a fitting Clemente Award nominee

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TAMPA -- For Pete Fairbanks, being recognized on Monday as the Rays’ nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award was a “great honor.” He didn’t take the nod lightly, describing it as “very humbling” to even be associated with the legacy of Clemente, the Hall of Fame player and humanitarian.

The work that led to that nomination, though, is second nature. The causes that Fairbanks and his wife, Lydia, support are deeply personal and extremely important to them. They’re not doing it for the recognition.

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“The guy left behind an incredible legacy of doing what Lydia and I feel is kind of expected of us,” Fairbanks said on Monday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “To be in this situation, to give back to the causes that we feel passionate about, to the community, to the people around us, to us, is something that is just instilled in us.

“For us and how we operate, and how we were raised, it just feels like it's something that's almost expected of us, and we're going to do our best to continue to do that, with or without being a nominee for an award like this.”

The Clemente Award is presented annually to a Major League player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions on and off the field. Each team nominates a player, and the overall winner will be honored during the World Series.

“I'm happy for Pete and certainly Lydia and their family,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I'm glad that they are getting recognized for what they do in the community and their cause.”

The most personal cause for the Fairbanks family came from unimaginable loss.

Every time Tampa Bay’s closer strikes out a batter, he and Lydia donate $100 to the Turner Syndrome Foundation, with the Rays Baseball Foundation matching each contribution, part of the “Strikeouts for Ellis” campaign. After losing their daughter, Ellis, to Turner Syndrome, the couple decided to start the campaign in her memory to raise awareness and, as Fairbanks said, “make the best of the worst.”

They also host an annual community day for the Turner Syndrome Foundation, including a group ticket package fundraiser at a Rays home game and an online auction. That auction features autographed memorabilia and experiences, and the whole team has supported the cause.

Their initiatives have raised nearly $60,000 for the Turner Syndrome Foundation.

“They turned a really tough family situation into something good,” Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot said “To be able to do that, it's pretty special. For us in the room to be able to help, we'll do anything we can.”

That’s just one way the Fairbanks family works to give back to the community.

In 2023, they created an initiative called “Pete’s Sneaks” to provide school supplies and a pair of sneakers for underserved students at the start of each school year. The past two years, they shopped for homeless youth, supported by the nonprofit “Starting Right, Now” and purchased sneakers, backpacks, apparel and school supplies.

Fairbanks also visits the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg each year. He and Lydia take part in the Rays on the Runway fashion show, benefitting the Children’s Dream Fund, and the Rays’ annual Week of Giving. And when back-to-back hurricanes hit the Tampa Bay area late last year, Fairbanks joined Rays staff at an emergency distribution site outside Tropicana Field to hand out food and supplies.

“I think that they all have their place and their value, whether it's helping people that were immediately impacted by something that impacted all of us, or something that maybe people have experienced but don't talk about as much,” Fairbanks said. “They all are there, and they all hold value, from seeing smiles on kids faces when you're getting a fresh bag of stuff and a pair of shoes to making sure that people have food for their pets after a hurricane.

“I think it all is valued to me and us, and I think that they all are just about the same in terms of what we feel is right.”

As he spoke about his nomination on Monday, Fairbanks repeatedly spoke in terms of “we” and “us,” making clear the impact that Lydia’s time, effort and planning has on everything they do.

“She's the mastermind, right?” he said. “I'm not standing here talking about it without her, and she has been an integral part of the whole thing.”