Baltimore Orioles take home a Gold Glove times three

Winning the Rawlings Gold Glove is one of the most prestigious thing for any baseball player. For the upteenth consecutive year, the Baltimore Orioles have numerous players who took home gold. This year three Orioles were nominated: Nick Markakis (RF), Adam Jones (CF), and J.J. Hardy (SS). And each of those players took home the hardware at their respective positions. It was Hardy’s third, Jones’ fourth, and Markakis’ second time winning the award.

Keep in mind that the votes are calculated for these awards from the players and managers in each league, with each manager/player only being allowed to vote for players not on his team in his own league. The votes are calculated after the regular season but before the playoffs begin – otherwise I suspect that the votes might be very different each year. In total, the O’s have now won 70 Gold Glove awards in their history, most in the American League and second only to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Photo: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking for myself, that’s pretty decent company. The Orioles have always put an emphasis on defense, and one could say that the proof is in the pudding. Granted that 16 of those Gold Glove awards were Brooks Robinson on his own, however again that in and of itself shows how great this franchise has been in the field over time. The likes of Jones, Markakis, and Hardy are all in that same category as the likes of Robinson, Paul Blair, Jim Palmer, et al, in the sense that they’re racking up hardware for their efforts. Granted they don’t yet have the ultimate piece of hardward (a ring), but the Orioles certainly hope that is to come.

On a similar note, the finalists for the BBWAA awards were announced yesterday as well. First off, it’s disappointing to see that Nelson Cruz wasn’t a finalist in the American League at all. Given the fact that Cruz single-handedly carried a team at various points in the season, one would have thought that he would have at least been a finalst.

However the good news is that Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter was a finalist for the Manager of the Year award. His competition is Mike Scioscia of Anaheim, and Ned Yost of Kansas City. Scioscia of course beat Showalter out for the less-prestigious Manager of the Year award from the Sporting News, however the BBWAA award has always been thought of as “the big one.” Showalter won it in 1994 with New York, and in 2004 with Texas.

Personally I’m afraid that there’ll be a riot in Baltimore if Showalter doesn’t win, especially if the hardware is given to the likes of Ned Yost. There’s still a bitter taste in the mouths of Orioles fans at how the Orioles were outdone by the overly-simplistic Yost and his Kansas City team in the ALCS. The winner of the award will be announced on November 11th.