I'm sure all of you have been waiting with bated breath for the National League follow-up to my previous article about American League left fielders who deserved Gold Gloves. Well, here it is in all of its splendor. You can all sleep easier now. (For those of you who haven't read the original yet, you'll find it on this same site with an April 1st publication date.)
A couple of clarification points are in order before the National League winners are presented. First, I decided to change the method for breaking ties between the two systems, Fielding Runs and DSF - both of which were described in the previous article. I had previously decided to break ties by defaulting to the player with the best offensive year, in an attempt to replicate the unfortunate real-life practice of giving a player credit on defense for being a good hitter. Silly but true. Unfortunately, the National League results made this practice impractical.
For instance, the two methods produced different National League Gold Glove "winners" in 1960. Using Fielding Runs, Bob Skinner was identified as the best left fielder. Using DSF, Orlando Cepeda was identified as the best left fielder. Cepeda managed to claim this title by posting the lowest aggregated ranking among all eligible National League left fielders. The problem is that there were only four eligible left fielders that year and Cepeda's total of 12 points made him almost imperceptibly better than Skinner (13) and Wally Moon (also 13). Clearly, if offense is used as the tie-breaker, Cepeda would be awarded the theoretical Gold Glove, a result which would fly in the face of reality. Orlando Cepeda was not a good defensive left fielder. He posted zero Fielding Runs in 1960 (compared to Skinner's 7 and Moon's 4) and never played enough games at the position to qualify as a left fielder in any other season. It seems a bit ridiculous to argue that he had Gold Glove-level defensive skills at a position at which his own team usually refused to play him.
This situation arose another time or two, prompting my to change the method for breaking ties. Now, I use good old common sense. In 1960, for example, I decided that Bob Skinner deserved the award, albeit by default. This decision caused me to change a couple of results from the American League as well, changes I'm glad to make since they align better with our collective memories. Here are those changes:
1997 Previous - Albert Belle / New - Garret Anderson
1994 Previous - Tony Phillips / New - Brady Anderson
1985 Previous - Phil Bradley / New - Mickey Hatcher
1981 Previous - Rickey Henderson / New - Willie Wilson
Along the same lines as the Orlando Cepeda anomaly, let me point out now that Lou Brock's name will appear as deserving of three National League Gold Gloves on the list below. If you've read my other work, you know by now that I think Lou Brock was a very bad defender, so I think this point needs some clarification. Brock's Gold Gloves come in 1965, 1967, and 1968, during a time period that saw the worst collective left field defensive performance in the National League of the time frame studied. Brock averaged just 6 Fielding Runs per season from 1965 through 1968. For the other 38 years studied, the league leader in the National League averaged almost 15 Fielding Runs. What's more, Brock faced little competition. In 1965, only four other outfielders even qualified for the award. In 1968, just five others qualified. There was a reasonable number of competitors in 1967, when eight men qualified, but their collective performance was pitiful. Brock's seven competitors that year combined for the grand total of zero Fielding Runs.
If we take the best of Brock's seasons in this span, 1965 when he totaled 8 Fielding Runs, that total would have led the league in just six other seasons. Two of these were 1967 and 1968, when Brock led the league with even lower totals. The others are 1960, 1961, 1966, and 1969 (a tie with Cleon Jones). Transferring Brock's actual numbers into each of those years shows us that he still would have been the Gold Glove winner in 1966 or 1969, but would have lost the award in 1960 and 1961. In other words, even in the years of the lowest defensive performance by National League left fielders, Brock still only finished on top half of the time. Putting his numbers in a more representative year, say 1980, when Jose Cruz led the league in Fielding Runs with 15 and also captured the DSF title, Brock's 1965 numbers would have placed him just fifth in FR (out of ten eligible left fielders) and sixth in DSF. In other words, even Lou Brock's best defensive season would have been merely average in a season that represented normal defensive ability among National League left fielders. That doesn't eliminate those three Gold Gloves for Brock, but it does give them the asterisk they deserve.
On to the actual winners:
1957 - Frank Robinson
1958 - Frank Robinson
1959 - Harry Anderson
1960 - Bob Skinner
1961 - Johnny Callison
1962 - Billy Williams
1963 - Billy Williams
1964 - Tommy Davis
1965 - Lou Brock
1966 - Rico Carty
1967 - Lou Brock
1968 - Lou Brock
1969 - Cleon Jones
1970 - Cleon Jones
1971 - Ralph Garr
1972 - Pete Rose
1973 - Pete Rose
1974 - Pete Rose
1975 - Jose Cardenal
1976 - Jimmy Wynn
1977 - George Foster
1978 - Warren Cromartie
1979 - Warren Cromartie
1980 - Jose Cruz
1981 - Jose Cruz
1982 - Jose Cruz
1983 - Tim Raines
1984 - Carmelo Martinez
1985 - Carmelo Martinez
1986 - Tim Raines
1987 - Barry Bonds
1988 - Kevin McReynolds
1989 - Barry Bonds
1990 - Barry Bonds
1991 - Barry Bonds
1992 - Luis Gonzalez
1993 - Luis Gonzalez
1994 - Luis Gonzalez
1995 - Barry Bonds
1996 - Bernard Gilkey
1997 - Bernard Gilkey
1998 - Dante Bichette
Note that of these 42 seasons, just 3 were actually awarded with a Gold Glove - Frank Robinson in 1958, and Barry Bonds in 1990 and 1991. There were many other instances of National League left fielders winning the award (Jackie Brandt in 1959 - perhaps the worst award ever given, Wally Moon in 1960, Dusty Baker in 1981, and Bonds in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998) but the numbers indicate that none of them was truly deserving. Bonds still walks away as the finest National League left fielder of this time frame, though, with five total awards, because he picked up theoretical awards in three seasons (1987, 1989 and 1995) for which he was passed over in real life.
» You can read more of Paul White's work at www.lostinleftfield.com.
Also by Paul White
» Left Field Gold Gloves
» A Case for the Hall of Fame
» Good Manners and Poor Logic: Brock Was No Gwynn
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: The Also Rans
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: Two Right Fielders
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: Slot #5, Rich Gossage
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot - The Starters I Left Behind
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: Slot #4, Jim Rice
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: Trammell & Smith
» My 2002 Hall of Fame Ballot: Slot #1, Gary Carter
» Happy Birthday Bob Elliott
» 3,000 Hits That Don't Belong in Cooperstown
» Frankie Frisch's Sad Legacy: The Cheapening of The Hall of Fame
» Babe's MVP Snubs
» The Schalk-Schang Redemption: Two Men Who Prove That The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee Was a Sham
» Being Tony Muser
» More submissions
Copyright © 2002 by Paul White. Posted April 22, 2002.
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