New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, for years one of the worst defensive shortstops in all of Major League Baseball, somehow managed to win his fifth Gold Glove on Tuesday afternoon despite having a truly horrendous season with the glove.
As if the anecdotes regarding Gold Glove misses in recent years—Mike Young 2008, Nate McLouth 2008, Rafael Palmeiro 1999—had not yet killed the reputation of the Gold Glove and any utility to be derived from the meaning of having won the award, we now have evidence at the most fundamental of levels that the Gold Glove is a laughable award.
Which is a shame, because there are certainly Gold Glovers who regularly deserve the award, such as other 2010 winners Scott Rolen, Shane Victorino, Michael Bourn and Brandon Phillips, each of whom was announced as a 2010 Gold Glover in the National League on Wednesday.
In order to properly honor Derek Jeter and all his achievements with the glove, BaseballEvolution.com has decided to start its own set of fielding awards: the Derek Jeter Awards.
From this point forward, the Derek Jeter Awards will be given to the worst fielding big name player at each position in both the National League and the American League. In this way, we can take time to honor all of baseball’s biggest stars who, oh by the way, are terrible fielders.
In 2010, the American League Jeter for shortstop will go to Derek Jeter–even though technically it belongs to Yuniesky Betancourt–and hopefully we’ll never again see any overlap between the Gold Gloves and the Derek Jeters.
Let’s have a look.