Image courtesy of www.wikimedia.org
With baseball season in full swing, we here at Toronto Gold thought it would be fun to do a quick wrap-up on the Rawlings Gold Glove award.
The Gold Glove award has been awarded to top players in MLB for defensive excellence. It has been contributing to the fame of incredible players like Ken Griffey, Jr., Greg Maddux, Ozzie Smith and Brooks Robinson for more than 50 years now.
Today, it’s the gold standard of defensive excellence and carries with it the title, “the Finest in the Field.”
Who’s Eligible?
A Gold Glove award is given to each defensive position for both the American and National leagues every year (18 awarded annually). The most common misconception about the Gold Glove ward is that there is only one awarded each year to a single defensive player. There are more gold glove winners than most people think!
Who Decides?
Managers and coaches are responsible for deciding who the winners are before the regular season comes to an end. They can’t vote for their own players and they have to stick to players in their league. For example, a coach in the National league can’t elect a player from the American league.
What’s It Made Of?
The award consists of a baseball glove that’s made from gold lamé-tanned leather and fixed to a walnut base.
Lamé is a type of woven or knit fabric that has integrated metallic yarn. The filler fabric is often nylon or polyester. It’s usually gold or silver in color and is often used in theatre and dance in costumes. You may have seen lamé in certain sci-fi television shows and films.
While the worth of the actual Gold Glove award is undetermined, some players have auctioned theirs off for over $500,000 a pop [source]!
To view all past Gold Glove award winners, visit Rawlings‘ website.
Toronto Gold is a gold buyer in Toronto, Ontario. The above image is not our own. GO BLUE JAYS!!