The renowned baseball equipment manufacturer Rawlings initiated the golden glove award in 1957.
Every year only the elected best MLB baseball defensive players receive this award. The American and National League baseball teams are eligible for this achievement.
Though this award was only given to the leagues once, Rawlings now honors players of all defensive positions with this recognition.
These are the pitcher, catcher, 4 infielders (first base, second base, third base, shortstop), 3 outfielders (left, right and center fielders), and utility players (started in 2022).
In this article, you’ll find deeper info on this prestigious award. Let’s check out some important discussion topics at a glance.
- A total of 428 gold glove awards were distributed between 1957-2022.
- 1 manager and 6 coaches of each team have 75% voting authority, while the remaining 25% is determined by metrics provided by the Society for American Baseball Research.
- The Rawlings Gold glove selection criteria were updated on 11 September 2022, which allows “Utility players” to be eligible for the award.
- Rawlings introduced the “Platinum” glove award in 2011. It’s voted by the fans.
- The all-time Gold glove winners list includes Greg Maddux, Brooks Robinson, Ozzie Smith, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Keith Hernandez, Ken Griffey Jr., Johnny Bench, Wes Parker, and Joe Morgan.
Selection Criteria for Baseball Golden Glove Award
The organizer updated the player qualification for the Rawlings Gold Gloves on 11 September 2022.
According to the update, all defensive players must fulfill some fundamental requirements, such as match count, innings, and playtime percentage, in order to become eligible for the title. Let’s take a quick look at them in the below:
Pitchers Requirements
Baseball pitchers who’ve pitched in a minimum of 138 innings are only eligible to qualify for the golden glove.
In addition to that, there shouldn’t be any team switching between the 1st and the 138th match, meaning he has to play for the same team for the period.
However, it’s okay to change the team afterward, and then the count starts from the beginning again.
“For the National Association league, the requirement is slightly different. A pitcher must play and pitch in at least 80% of his team’s played matches. Check MLB Rule 10.22 (b) comment for the reference.”
Catcher’s Requirements
For catchers, the conditions are eased off. To be eligible for the award, a catcher only needs to participate and play 69 matches among 138 matches of the team.
Infielder’s and Outfielder’s Requirements
For infielder gold gloves, players should have a minimum portfolio of 698 innings, where the maximum number of team games is 138.
If considering the typical duration of a baseball match (9 innings per game), he needs to play at least 78 games.
“The average Major League Baseball match durations are around 3 hours according to the last 10 seasons. We can assume, the playing time can be around 234 hours in total to become eligible for the gold glove.”
Moreover, both outfielders and infielders can be nominated or voted for the certain position where they played the most.
Rawlings Golden Glove Award Voting Process
To understand the voting process of the gold glove awards, first, you should note 3 factors. For example,
- This Rawlings glove award is a prize given to Major League Baseball players who are really good at playing defense.
- It’s not just about how good they are at numbers or statistics, like how many balls a player caught or how fast they run.
- The award doesn’t consider how good the player is at hitting the ball or scoring runs. It’s all about how well they play defense.
Rawlings follows a democratic voting style to find the best defensive players in each position to give this award.
The 75% voting authority is limited to each team’s manager and 6 coaches. So, it accounts for 7 votes for each team.
Any of the 7 voting members represented by each team can’t vote for their own team.
The rest of the 25% votes are determined by the metrics provided by the SABR or Society for American Baseball Research.
“For the individual Gold glove championship, the authority counts different statistics of a player’s in-game performance. These are represented by the Sabermetric.”
To consider one’s vote eligible, signing the voting form is mandatory.
As mentioned earlier, the votes should be specific for each position. For instance, a coach or manager can’t vote a player as general Infielders.
Instead, he has to mention the particular position of the player, like shortstop (SS), first base (1B), second base (2B), or third base (3B).
To make this voting process transparent and friendly to the organizer and leagues, Rawlings follows MLB Rule 10.22. This rulebook demonstrates the MSIC or the Minimum Standards for Individual Championships. So, players have to pass the standard as well.
Any of the voting members can’t disclose the ballot to players or others. The results of the poll remain and should be confidential between Rawlings and MLB.
Some Interesting Facts and Insights about the MLB Gold Glove!
As the starting year, in 1957, all American League Gold glove winners also received for the National Leagues.
In the American League, there are 21 pitchers, 22 catchers, 26 first basemen, 25 second basemen, 21 third basemen, 26 shortstops, 72 outfielders, and 1 utility player who have won the award.
In the National League, there are 20 pitchers, 25 catchers, 21 first basemen, 28 second basemen, 20 third basemen, 29 shortstops, 70 outfielders, and 1 utility player who have won the award.
The only player to win the gold glove in the AL is DJ LeMahieu.
Brendan Donovan is the only player to win the gold glove in the NL.
To connect the fans more with the game and favorite players, Rawlings also introduced the Platinum glove award in 2011. This award is given to the best gold glove title holder in each season, voted by the fans.
9 Players Won Gold Glove Awards in 1957 (American League and National League)
In the first season of the American and National League gold glove, a total of 9 players received this award. These are:
- Gil Hodges, First Baseman (Brooklyn Dodgers)
- Nellie Fox, Second Baseman (Chicago White Sox)
- Frank Malzone, Third Baseman (Boston Red Sox)
- Roy McMillan, Shortstop (New York Mets)
- Minnie Miñoso, Left Outfielder (Chicago White Sox)
- Willie Mays, Center Outfielder (New York Giants)
- Al Kaline, Right Outfielder (Detroit Tigers)
- Sherm Lollar, Catcher (Chicago White Sox)
- Bobby Shantz, Pitcher (New York Yankees)
10 American League Gold Glove Winners in 2022
In the 2022 season of the American League, 10 players were elected for the prestigious golden glove award. 4 out of 10 players are from Cleveland Guardians. With 2 gold glove winners, the New York Yankees stand in second.
Also, Rawlings introduced the Utility Player position for the first time ever for the glove title this season.
| Winners Name | Team | Players’ Positions |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | Toronto Blue Jays | First base |
| Andrés Giménez | Cleveland Guardians | Second base |
| Ramón Urías | Baltimore Orioles | Third base |
| Jeremy Peña | Houston Astros | Shortstop |
| Steven Kwan | Cleveland Guardians | Left Outfielder (LF) |
| Myles Straw | Cleveland Guardians | Center Outfielder (CF) |
| Kyle Tucker | Houston Astros | Right Outfielder (RF) |
| Jose Trevino | New York Yankees | Catcher |
| Shane Bieber | Cleveland Guardians | Pitcher |
| DJ LeMahieu | New York Yankees | Utility Player (UP) |
10 National League Gold Glove Winners in 2022
In the 2022 season of the National League, 10 players received gold titles from a total of 8 teams. Among them 2 players from the St. Louis Cardinals and 2 from the Atlanta Braves. We’ve also seen 1 utility player grab this award from Rawlings.
| Winners Name | Team | Players’ Positions |
| Christian Walker | Arizona Diamondbacks | First base |
| Brendan Rodgers | Colorado Rockies | Second base |
| Nolan Arenado | St. Louis Cardinals | Third base |
| Dansby Swanson | Atlanta Braves | Shortstop |
| Ian Happ | Chicago Cubs | Left Outfielder (LF) |
| Trent Grisham | San Diego Padres | Center Outfielder (CF) |
| Mookie Betts | Los Angeles Dodgers | Right Outfielder (RF) |
| J. T. Realmuto | Philadelphia Phillies | Catcher |
| Max Fried | Atlanta Braves | Pitcher |
| Brendan Donovan | St. Louis Cardinals | Utility Player (UP) |
All-time Gold Glove Winners in Baseball
This is the list of baseball players who won the most gold glove award in the history of baseball.
Here, you may get confused with Wes Parker and Joe Morgan’s names. They don’t have the maximum number of gloves but were elected for the list because of the high voting volume. For example, Parker got higher votes than Keith.
| Winners Name | Total Gold Gloves | Debu Team | Players’ Positions |
| Greg Maddux | 18 | Chicago Cubs | Pitcher |
| Brooks Robinson | 16 | Baltimore Orioles | Third Baseman (3B) |
| Ozzie Smith | 13 | San Diego Padres | Shortstop (SS) |
| Willie Mays | 12 | New York Giants | Center Outfielder (CF) |
| Roberto Clemente | 12 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Right Outfielder (RF) |
| Keith Hernandez | 11 | St. Louis Cardinals | First Baseman (1B) |
| Ken Griffey Jr. | 10 | Seattle Mariners | Center Outfielder (CF) |
| Johnny Bench | 10 | Cincinnati Reds | Catcher |
| Wes Parker | 6 | Los Angeles Dodgers | First Baseman (1B) |
| Joe Morgan | 5 | Houston Astros | Second Baseman (2B) |
12 Double-play Gold Glove Winners
Without the above, there are also few gold glove titles for unusual positions and roleplay. Such a combination is the double-play gold glove. In simple words, this Gold glove is awarded to partner players who made successful double-play.
However, so far, the awarded combinations are shortstop and second baseman. There are only 12 double-play gold glove awards given to a total 12 players.
| Shortstop (SS) | Second Baseman (2B) | Team | Year |
| Luis Aparicio | Nellie Fox | Chicago White Sox | 1959–60 |
| Gene Alley | Bill Mazeroski | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1966–67 |
| Jim Fregosi | Bobby Knoop | Los Angeles Angels | 1967 |
| Mark Belanger | Davey Johnson | Baltimore Orioles | 1969, 1971 |
| Mark Belanger | Bobby Grich | Baltimore Orioles | 1973–76 |
| Dave Concepción | Joe Morgan | Cincinnati Reds | 1974–77 |
| Alan Trammell | Lou Whitaker | Detroit Tigers | 1983–84 |
| Omar Vizquel | Roberto Alomar | Cleveland Guardians | 1999–01 |
| Édgar Rentería | Fernando Viña | St. Louis Cardinals | 2002 |
| Derek Jeter | Robinson Canó | New York Yankees | 2010 |
| Brandon Crawford | Joe Panik | San Francisco Giants | 2016 |
| Andrelton Simmons | Ian Kinsler | Los Angeles Angels | 2018 |
Batterymates Gold Glove Winners
Batteries or batterymates is another unique golden glove award given to only pitchers and catchers in combo performance. The award began in 1962, received by Jim Kaat and Earl Battey.
Till now, there are only 5 awards given to 5 pairs in this segment. Among them, only Iván Rodríguez and Kenny Rogers made it possible to win the award twice from different teams.
| Catcher | Pitcher | Team | Years |
| Earl Battey | Jim Kaat | Minnesota Twins | 1962 |
| Tony Peña | Rick Reuschel | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1985 |
| Bob Boone | Bret Saberhagen | Kansas City Royals | 1989 |
| Iván Rodríguez | Kenny Rogers | Texas Rangers | 2000 |
| Detroit Tigers | 2006 | ||
| Yadier Molina | Adam Wainwright | St. Louis Cardinals | 2009, 2013 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the most Golden Glove awards?
Greg Maddux has the most golden glove awards till now. He started his career in 1986 and played till 2008.
When are the Gold Glove winners announced?
The organizer announces the gold glove winners at the end of each MLB season, which is typically between September and October. However, the exact date of the announcement can vary from year to year.
How many Gold Gloves are awarded?
Before 2022, 18 gold gloves were awarded each year for the National and American League. That means for each league, there used to be 9 awards.
However, in 2022, Rawlings introduced utility players to be eligible for the award. So, now it’s 10+10 or 20, summing both leagues.
Do Golden Glove winners get money?
Golden glove winners don’t get money with the award. However, awards boosted their stardom, which eventually led to more sponsorship, endorsement, and an increase in the signing amount.
Who has won 10 Gold Gloves?
Currently, Ken Griffey Jr and Johnny Bench have 10 gold gloves. But there are other players who have more than 10 gloves, like Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Keith Hernandez, Greg Maddux, Brooks Robinson, and Ozzie Smith.
Who won 13 Gold Glove awards?
Greg Maddux, Brooks Robinson, and Ozzie Smith have 13 gold glove awards. However, Maddux and Robinson have more than 13.
Wrapping Up
So, that’s the conclusion of the 66 years of gold glove award history. Players don’t play for awards; rather, they play for the team. But the gold glove is one of a kind that pushes them to go beyond their limits. Thanks to Rawlings for being the day-breaker.
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Hello everyone. My name is Jason Butler, and I live in California, America. I was a professional AAA Minor League Baseball player. I lost my chance of playing MLB for injury issues, but I did not lose my love for baseball. I attended the coaching training program and am now working as a coach in a small school in San Diego.
I always love to share my experience and knowledge if that can help you. Play baseball, and stay fit.