ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger is the 2026 Philanthropist of the Year, the Players Trust, the charitable arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, announced Oct. 28 as part of the Players Choice Awards. The Rangers congratulated Burger on the honor.
As part of the award, the Players Trust will send a $25,000 grant to The Burger Family Foundation. Burger and his wife, Ashlyn, operate the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which supports people with Down syndrome and families raising children with disabilities.
Since the award was created in 2023, no Rangers player had won it before Burger. Active major leaguers vote on the Players Choice Awards. The two runners-up for Philanthropist of the Year each receive $5,000 grants for their chosen nonprofits.
Jake Burger Earns Second Players Trust Honor Of 2026
In May, the Players Trust named Burger its Most Valuable Philanthropist, which came with a $10,000 grant. That money helped develop and launch The Lucky Ranch, a multi-acre facility in Nashville, Tenn., built to create jobs for adults with disabilities.
Burger said in the Players Trust’s May announcement that the foundation grew out of how the Down syndrome community embraced his family after his daughter, Penelope, was born on Oct. 25, 2024. Jake and Ashlyn went to work right away, he said.
“Ever since that date, we went to work because that community embraced us,” Burger said. “We started the Burger Family Foundation to help people of all ages that have Down syndrome with whatever they need.”
Burger was also the Rangers’ nominee for the 2026 Roberto Clemente Award. His foundation has raised more than $150,000 through its “Down Syndrome Is Cool” merchandise line, according to the Rangers.
In 2025 and 2026, Burger hosted Down Syndrome Awareness Day at Globe Life Field. Proceeds from specialty tickets and “Down Syndrome Is Cool” merchandise sales went to local Down syndrome organizations.
Texas Rangers, Burger Family Foundation Work Across North Texas
Burger switched to No. 21 when he joined Texas, in recognition of Trisomy 21, the clinical term for Down syndrome. He explained the choice at the Rangers’ awards dinner in January 2025, a few months after Penelope was born.
“Twenty-one is a very important number: Trisomy 21 is what Down syndrome is clinically called, and it’s an extra copy of the 21st chromosome,” Burger explained. “So for me, this is the first time I can pick a number that’s not just close to my heart, but close to a lot of people’s hearts.”
The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and Delaware North Sportservice have donated a portion of the proceeds from every Burger jersey sold at Globe Life Field over the last two seasons to his foundation.
This summer, Burger underwrote seven food distributions at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy in West Dallas. Those distributions provided about $30,000 in fresh produce and shelf-stable goods to academy athletes and their families.
Burger has also visited dozens of GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers on Rangers road trips. In May, Jake and Ashlyn hosted an event at Miracle League Doug Inman Field in Arlington to raise money toward opening a GiGi’s Playhouse in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Rangers acquired Burger from the Miami Marlins in January 2025.
