The Yankees’ HOPE Week has been named a finalist for the 2025 Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence.
HOPE Week, the Yankees’ long-running initiative to celebrate inspiring individuals and organizations in their local community, is one of five finalists for this year’s Selig Award, which was created by Major League Baseball in 2010 to recognize the charitable and philanthropic efforts of MLB clubs.
Along with HOPE Week, the other 2025 finalists are the Dodgers’ Wildfire Relief and Recovery, the Red Sox’s Fenway Park Learning Lab, the D-backs’ Inter-Tribal Youth Baseball and Softball Tournament and the Royals’ Literacy League.
Fans can vote for the 2025 Selig Award winner online at MLB.com here:
Voting is open through Monday, Oct. 20.
The Yankees established HOPE Week — which stands for Helping Others Persevere and Excel — in 2009, when they moved into the new Yankee Stadium. This year marked the 16th edition of HOPE Week.
HOPE Week is celebrated over five consecutive days during baseball season, with the Yankees shining a spotlight on a different individual, family or organization every day. HOPE Week honorees get to share their inspirational stories with Yankees players and fans, and each day of HOPE Week ends with a visit to Yankee Stadium on the day of a game.
The 2025 HOPE Week honorees included Joan Hyland and her nonprofit “Love, Nana”; nonprofit organization Bottomless Closet; Ed and Sue Goldstein and their nonprofit The Valerie Fund; young Yankees fans Carmine and Vincent Gagliano and their family’s The Strength of Brothers Foundation; and Brian Worthington, founder of the New York Metro Black Pilots of America.
Over the 16 years of HOPE Week, the Yankees have had 78 unique honorees and donated more than $1 million to them and their charities.
Yankees players, coaches and front office employees all participate in the community outreach program — from Derek Jeter helping outfit low-income men who were re-entering the workforce with new suits, to CC Sabathia and Jorge Posada taking a double-decker New York tour bus with young Haitian refugees, to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton playing kickball with a middle school girl who was bullied.
For the last 12 years, the Yankees’ Minor League teams have also held their own HOPE Weeks, allowing the organization to reach more than 400 community causes in New York and around the country.
The Yankees even win on the field for their honorees during HOPE Week. The Bronx Bombers have a 44-28 record on HOPE Week since it began and have won 31 of their last 51 HOPE Week games.
