In addition to the winners, wanted to track the 2 next runner ups, for posterity and what-not.
We’ll go in order of how the awards are announced, beginning with the Gold Gloves. I’ve used 600 innings as a rough qualification minimum.
One thing that jumps out at me here is just how phenomenal the New York Gothams were defensively: two Gold Glove winners, 3 others mentioned.
#P
It’s a challenge because pitchers overall get so few chances. At the end of the day, you have to go with who makes the most plays.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | TC | E | A |
Jack Taylor | HOD | 205 | 2.9 | 32 | 1 | 15 |
Ray Collins | PHI | 194 | 0.7 | 39 | 2 | 21 |
Old Hoss Radbourn | OTT | 198 | 3.9 | 27 | 0 | 21 |
#C
Catchers are so hard … do you value cERA, which gives an unfair advantage to backstops blessed with better staffs? What about throwing out runners, where virtually everyone is within a few percentage points of each other? Are errors worse than passed balls or vice-versa?
Who knows. It’s clear that Cleveland’s Louis Santop dominates the numbers here (even if his FRM is some lucky fluke), and that Indianapolis’ Johnny Bench is damn good. Also, Brooklyn’s Duke Farrell, Portland’s Iván Rodríguez, and Miami’s Alan Ashby all look like real contenders if they were to ever earn enough playing time.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | E | RTO% | PB | cERA | FRM |
Louis Santop | CLE | 921 | 3.4 | 3 | 32.6 | 3 | 4.23 | 5.4 |
Johnny Bench | IND | 971 | 3.4 | 8 | 34.6 | 5 | 4.49 | 1.8 |
Thurman Munson | NYY | 1071 | 2.4 | 5 | 32.0 | 5 | 4.71 | 1.2 |
#1B
While the Gothams’ Will Clark and Baltimore’s Dan McGann are pretty indistinguishable, Clark covered more ground. Note that for 1B we’ve listed assists over double plays, as they are a more reliable indicator for the position.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | TC | E | A |
Will Clark | MCG/NYG | 1071 | 3.8 | 1082 | 6 | 78 |
Dan McGann | BAL | 1051 | 1.6 | 1160 | 6 | 66 |
Mike Epstein | HOM | 1010 | 1.6 | 1088 | 11 | 77 |
#2B
This is incredibly close, and in addition to these three, San Francisco’s Jimmy Bloodworth and Los Angeles’ Bobby Grich could be listed quite easily.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | TC | E | DP |
Eddie Collins | CAG | 1049 | 6.6 | 573 | 10 | 106 |
Cookie Rojas | NYG/MCG | 928 | 7.1 | 477 | 5 | 71 |
Rogers Hornsby | KCM/POR | 1156 | 4.8 | 624 | 10 | 92 |
#3B
It’s a bit of a toss up in a traditional defensive choice between the top 2: Philadelphia’s Scott Rolen covered more ground, but Ottawa’s Anthony Rendon made more plays. At the end of the day, it’s the plays that count.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | TC | E | DP |
Anthony Rendon | OTT | 1151 | 5.3 | 366 | 7 | 36 |
Scott Rolen | PHI | 1116 | 8.0 | 329 | 10 | 32 |
Mike Schmidt | NYY | 984 | 7.7 | 264 | 4 | 19 |
#SS
Detroit’s George Davis was absolutely dominant here, despite registering 13 errors. He got to more balls, turned more double plays, and was simply the best defensive SS in the league.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | TC | E | DP |
George Davis | DET | 1199 | 21.9 | 677 | 13 | 97 |
George Wright | LAA | 1067 | 14.5 | 562 | 2 | 87 |
Ozzie Smith | KCM | 1159 | 15.0 | 586 | 5 | 88 |
#LF
In LF, we have a victory for slow and steady: Brooklyn’s Roy White is far from flashy, and his arm is fair-to-middling at best. But he covers ground, and over nearly 300 chances and 1200 innings, made zero errors.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | K | E | DP |
Roy White | BRK | 1163 | 7.4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Jimmy Sheckard | NYG | 1166 | 4.1 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
Rickey Henderson | SFS | 946 | 3.4 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
#CF
The choice between the New York Gothams’ Willie Mays and the Baltimore Black Sox’ Paul Blair is very, very rough. Their ZR’s are essentially identical, Mays has both 2 more kills and 2 more errors over about 200 more innings, as well as a slightly better range rating. Blair’s arm has actually been more effective overall. In the end, it’s Blair by a hair.
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | K | E | DP |
Paul Blair | BAL | 1044 | 9.6 | 15 | 2 | 2 |
Willie Mays | NYG | 1259 | 9.6 | 17 | 5 | 2 |
Curtis Granderson | BBB | 982 | 7.9 | 14 | 3 | 3 |
Mention should be made of Ottawa’s Ken Griffey, Jr., who registered 16 kills in 649 innings, a pretty stunning rate of eliminating baserunners.
#RF
The New York Gothams’ Johnny Callison has, in slightly less than a full-time role, put up spectacular defensive numbers. Perhaps most impressive are the 4 double-plays. Here are the top three:
Name | Tm | Inn | ZR | K | E | DP |
Johnny Callison | NYG | 910 | 8.7 | 11 | 2 | 4 |
Roberto Clemente | HOM | 1034 | 8.2 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
Larry Walker | OTT | 641 | 3.5 | 11 | 3 | 1 |
Your Gold Glovers for year 2000 of the WBL:
P: Jack Taylor (HOD)
C: Louis Santop (CLE)
1B: Will Clark (MCG/NYG)
2B: Eddie Collins (CAG)
3B: Anthony Rendon (OTT)
SS: George Davis (DET)
LF: Roy White (BRK)
CF: Paul Blair (BAL)
RF: Johnny Callison (NYG)