Kyle Gibson spent one season with the Baltimore Orioles. During his time, he was a veteran leader and teacher and was a trove of knowledge fellow teammates turned to throughout the season.
What many don’t know about Gibson is that he is also a big charitable person within the community and other areas he has played or visited. Because of his involvement and desire to give back, Gibson was nominated as the Roberto Clemente Award nominee for the Orioles this season, his third career nomination.
The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the player who best represents the game of baseball through community involvement, philanthropy, extraordinary character and positive contributions on and off the field of baseball.
“Whether somebody’s having a bad day and that’s why they say something rude to you, or you get a look that you didn’t expect, it’s probably because something else is going on in their life,” Gibson said. “After going through some of the things I’ve gone through in life, that’s something that I definitely think is important for people to understand.”
Gibson, along with his wife Elizabeth, is involved with numerous charities across the country, in which they have raised over $500,000 in the cities he has played in during his decade-long career.
Gibson serves as the vice president of Big League Impact, which was founded by St. Louis Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright. They are also part of the Help One Now Foundation, have donated to the Maryland Food Bank, are involved with Crisis Aid International in St. Louis and work with a soup kitchen and food pantry in Fort Myers, Florida.
The veteran pitcher agreed to donate $100 to the Maryland Food Bank for every strikeout this past season. Gibson would also get fellow teammates Tyler Wells, Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins to assist with a season-long fundraiser.
The four players agreed to donate $425 for each victory the Orioles had, divide it in four and each of them donate the money to a charity of their choosing. Along with this, Gibson convinced more than half of his Orioles teammates to attend the City of Refuge Baltimore event this year, raising over $36,000.
https://twitter.com/BigLeagueImpact/status/1724263482676113513?t=ULydUoLeui24KIIN-JYNww&s=19
Gibson and his wife have wanted to give back since before he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 2009. From there, the Gibsons would quickly get involved with their community and go from there.
“We’ve been really fortunate to find a lot of great organizations that do a lot of great work,” said Gibson about his charitable endeavors. “We just have felt really connected to those.”
Shortly after being drafted, Kyle and Elizabeth took a trip to the Dominican Republic. They were attending the grand opening of a project that his agent, along with some other players, had worked on. It was that trip that opened their eyes to what they could do outside of the country as well.
A mission trip to Haiti in 2015 by Elizabeth opened the door for the Gibsons to join Help One Now, a non-profit that focuses on empowering families through entrepreneurship, education and care within the community.
Gibson would travel to Haiti in 2018 to visit a school that the group helped build for local children.
“The best part is when you find local leaders,” Gibson said. “Whether it’s in Baltimore or the Dominican, or a good leader at a charity, they can sometimes, most of the time, do way better work than I can just starting something up and figuring it out.”
Upon joining the Orioles, Gibson made sure to speak to the club on how they could help support his efforts around the community. It’s an important aspect to Gibson, and having the ability to be involved means a lot to him.
“We’re trying to be a light in dark places,” Gibson said. “With faith being such a big part of our life, we’re just trying to spread the love of Christ and spread hope.”
What do you think of Gibson’s community efforts? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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