Here we are, deep into the fall. Baseball is over for now, and the off season is as heated and hectic as ever. The general manager meetings just ended with instant replay and free agency being the hot topics, and – by the way – it’s time for all those awards. Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP are just a few of them, but the one I want to focus on is the award that gets handed out to players based on superior individual fielding performance, or the Gold Glove Award.
No, I’m not going to write about this year’s winners. What would be the point when it will just be old news within a few days? I had a better idea. Why not discuss the assembly of the greatest Gold Glove Team of all time? Naturally I couldn’t do this without bringing up who has won the most Gold Gloves at each position.
Bear in mind that where the outfield is concerned, the phrase “each position” becomes a moot point since the award does not distinguish between left, right, and center field. And this has been the basis for arguments by some who feel that defensively, the outfield positions are not created equal. Also, I will list the winners for the all time team based on the announcement at this last year’s All Star Game, and then follow that up with my choices and my reasons behind those choices versus fan opinion.
I’m going to start off by listing the leaders at each position for most Gold Gloves received. It may surprise you to know that not all of them are still active players. When it comes to the all time team of Gold Glovers, it may surprise you that not all of them are players from the past, but most of them are.
We start with the number one position as listed on the field defensively, that being the pitcher. Greg Maddux holds the record with 17 Gold Gloves including one for this past 2007 season. Not only does he hold the most for a pitcher, but with the exception of 2003, Maddux has won it every year since 1990. In the AL, the all time leader is Jim Kaat who has 14 of the awards that he won every year from 1962-75.
Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez holds the honor for catchers with 13 while Johnny Bench comes in second with 10, all of which were won from 1968-77 (ten years in a row). But Rodriguez also has a string of 10 straight from 1992-2001.
Keith Hernandez takes the honors at first base with 11 winning them in a string from 1978-88. Don Mattingly is the runner up with 9. Roberto Alomar has the most for a second baseman with 10 and Ryne Sandberg finishes second with 9, all in a row from 1983-91. At third base, Brooks Robinson has 16 that he won every year from 1960-75; the second most is Mike Schmidt with 10 including a string of nine in a row from 1976-84.
It should be no secret that the all time leader at shortstop is the one an only “Oz”. Ozzie Smith holds the record at 13, all in a row from 1980-92. Omar Vizquel is your runner up with 11, nine in a row in the AL from 1993-2001, and now two in a row in the NL in 2005-06. But with all that having been said, I don’t think that the game of baseball will see a shortstop the of Ozzie Smith’s caliber ever again.
In the AL outfield we have Al Kaline and Ken Griffey, Jr. each with 10. Griffey, Jr. won his in a string of 10 in a row from 1990-99. In the NL, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente both have 12 and both of them won theirs in strings — Mays from 1957-68 and Clemente from 1961-1972. And Mays received his first one in the inaugural year of the award. On a side note, Andruw Jones of Atlanta just won his tenth consecutive Gold Glove for an outfielder and if he stays healthy could rewrite the record books.
So there you have your all-time winners for most Gold Gloves at their respective positions. Now we’re going to get to the meat of the article and discuss the all time team selected by the fans this past season and announced at the midsummer classic. So here is the all time team according to baseball fans.
Starting at pitcher, it was an obvious choice with Greg Maddux having won his 17th this past season and 17 out of the last 18 years. My pick would probably be Maddux as well, but I’m leaning a little more towards Jim Kaat, mostly because he was a lefty and very ungainly in stature. But he could come off the mound like nobody’s business so I respect that. So I’ll compromise and start Maddux, and save Kaat as his reliever or closer.
Where catcher is concerned I’m in total agreement on this one — Johnny Bench was the fans choice; so to is he mine hands down. Despite the fact that Pudge has 13 Gold Gloves to Bench’s 10, it makes no difference to me. Johnny Bench was clearly the best catcher the game has ever seen and by far more of a class act than Rodriguez could ever hope to be.
First base is the one that just really knocked me for a loop. Wes Parker was the fans choice. How do you pick Wes Parker over the likes of a Keith Hernandez? Parker has won six Gold Gloves, but Parker? Now, my choice over Hernandez is Don Mattingly and it’s because Mattingly was by far a more talented first baseman. Hernandez was good but either he hit it out of the park or he choked at the plate. Plus he had issues psychology. Mattingly was one of the best pure hitters of the game, and had a lifetime fielding percentage of .996 and a .307 lifetime batting average. Hernandez was almost as good a fielder having a .994 percentage, but his batting average was 11 points less than Mattingly’s at .296, and had 60 fewer home runs. Forget Wes Parker; give me Donnie Baseball.
Again with second base there is a dilemma. The fans choice was Joe Morgan; mine is Ryne Sandberg. If you want to know why not Robbie Alomar just take a look at his conduct and sportsmanship. Fielding capabilities notwithstanding, I will never respect Alomar for spitting in an umpires face the way he did. I think Morgan was the fans choice because of popularity and being part of the Big Red Machine in Cincy. But Sandberg clearly had the better numbers and nine Gold Glove’s compared to Morgan’s five. Good luck Alomar, you have no class.
There is no discussion at third base — it’s Brooks Robinson hands down. He’s the best in the record books, the clear choice of the fans, and in my opinion, the greatest third baseman that ever played the hot corner. Not only is there no one that comes close, but there is no one playing today that is gonna end his career with 16 Gold Glove’s at third base.
The same holds true with shortstop. The record books have spoken, the fans have spoken, and now I have spoken. Ozzie Smith is the greatest there ever was at his position. Just like Brooks Robinson, Smith was a human vacuum cleaner in the middle infield. Though Omar Vizquel is a close second as far as quantity goes with 11 Gold Gloves, it’s the quality that matters and that’s why the great and wonderful Oz still ranks #1 and always will in my book.
Well now it’s time to break down the outfield so I will start with the AL. And we are already up against another position’s dilemma here. The fans picked a total of three — two center fielders (Mays and Griffey, Jr.) and one right fielder (Clemente). Granted, Griffey, Jr. was in the AL, but as it stands, he is now in the NL so all the choices are NL players now.
The AL outfielders chosen in the record books were Al Kaline and Ken Griffey, Jr. with 10 GG’s apiece. But what about Mickey Mantle? Mantle only won one Gold Glove in 1962, two-thirds of the way through his career, but had the Gold Glove award started earlier than 1957, he probably would’ve received 10 at least. Prior to Mantle, Jimmy Piersall and Minnie Minoso got the award over Mantle. The irony here is that Piersall was the biggest psychopath to ever don a uniform and Minoso was not a full time player being used more as a pinch hitter than a fielder. Mantle’s stats are undeniably some of the best for the hardest position in the outfield — 536 career homers (the most ever by a switch-hitter), a .298 lifetime batting average, and a .987 fielding percentage. I won’t even bother with Mi-no-show and Weird-sall. Neither one can touch “the Mick”.
The NL is right on the money with Clemente and Mays and so are the fans. This is not open to debate. But there can only be three outfielders so for my money it’s Clemente, Kaline, and Mays with Kaline playing left field for this game.
There you have it; the greatest Gold Glove team of all time. As always, if you should have any comments or questions, feel free to e-mail me at no1nyyfan55@yahoo.com and I’ll respond to them as quickly as I can.
