Golden Boys

In honor of their 50th anniversary of the award, Rawlings has named its all-time Gold Glove team. These are supposedly the best fielders ever at their respective positions. Almost a million people voted and the starting 9 has exactly 100 career Gold Gloves between them (and still counting in some cases). So here are your winners...

Pitcher - Greg Maddux (16 Gold Gloves, 50% of the vote)
Catcher - Johnny Bench (10 Gold Gloves, 59% of the vote)
First Base - Wes Parker (6 Gold Gloves, 53% of the vote)
Second Base - Joe Morgan (5 Gold Gloves, 27% of the vote)
Third Base - Brooks Robinson (16 Gold Gloves, 61% of the vote)
Shortstop - Ozzie Smith (13 Gold Gloves, 56% of the vote)
Outfield - Willie Mays (12 Gold Gloves, 23% of the vote)
Outfield - Roberto Clemente (12 Gold Gloves, 21% of the vote)
Outfield - Ken Griffey Jr. (10 Gold Gloves, 9% of the vote)

Assuming Maddux and Junior get in, every guy on this list is a Hall of Famer except for Wes Parker, who hit .267 in 9 seasons with the Dodgers in the 60s and 70s. "This is my Hall of Fame," Parker said, when asked about the honor.

In terms of guys who may have been snubbed, Jim Katt has just as many Gold Gloves (16) as Maddux, but owns a lower career fielding percentage (.947 to .971). Ivan Rodriguez has more career Gold Gloves (12) than Bench, but finished second. Keith Hernandez (11) and Don Mattingly (9) both had more career Gold Gloves than Parker, but finished third and second respectively. And Robbie Alomar had twice as many Gold Gloves (10) as Morgan, but finished second while Ryne Sandberg (9) finished third.

I wish I had known abut this before today, because I definitely would have voted (and probably not for Bench, Parker, or Morgan).