NEW YORK — MLB and Rawlings rolled out the gold carpet for 4 of baseball’s nice fielders — three previous, one current — in New York Metropolis on Thursday afternoon.
To rejoice the 2024 Gold Glove Awards, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh joined Yankees legends Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams and Dodgers legend Steve Garvey for a Gold Glove meet-and-greet with followers on the MLB Flagship Retailer in New York.
Raleigh was a first-time Gold Glove Award winner this season — one among a record-tying 14 first-time winners in 2024 — and the primary Mariners catcher ever to win a Gold Glove.
“It feels superb. An actual honor. There was a number of arduous work put into [my defense] this offseason,” Raleigh mentioned. “Hopefully there are a lot of extra to return.”
Raleigh’s best power behind the plate is perhaps his pitch framing. This season, he led American League catchers in runs saved from framing, per Statcast. He additionally led AL catchers with 430 known as strikes on pitches he obtained that had been out of the strike zone, and he led all MLB catchers with 61 known as strikeouts on out-of-zone pitches.
“I do not wish to provide you with all my secrets and techniques,” Raleigh joked. “However you are simply attempting to present them the most effective visible attainable. It isn’t even actually for the umpire, it is simply as a lot for the pitcher. … You need good presentation, and also you’re actually simply attempting to maintain the whole lot within the zone so long as attainable. Attempt to make the whole lot look good, and the remaining is as much as them. I am simply attempting to make it look good and current it the most effective I can.”
Mattingly, Williams and Garvey, in the meantime, had been a few of the most adorned fielders of their time. Mattingly gained 9 Gold Glove Awards at first base in his profession, second-most of any first baseman behind Keith Hernandez (11). Williams was a four-time Gold Glover in heart area, and Garvey was a four-time Gold Glover at first base.
“For me, I believe defenses have gotten so significantly better,” mentioned Mattingly, who’s now the bench coach for the Blue Jays after managing 12 seasons with the Dodgers and Marlins. “Guys are so athletic. Positioning has gotten so good. … It is powerful to get successful these days.”
Garvey’s Gold Gloves are a few of the many profession accolades contributing to his Corridor of Fame résumé — he’s up for consideration for the Corridor of Fame this winter on the Traditional Baseball Period poll, together with Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Parker and Luis Tiant.
“I am very optimistic,” Garvey mentioned. “This period is extra the ’70s and early ’80s, which was the start and the candy spot of my profession. Any one of many fellas which can be nominated might simply go into the Corridor of Fame and deserve it. These guys are Corridor of Famers in my thoughts. We’ll simply wait and see.”
Along with his 4 Gold Glove Awards, Garvey was the 1974 Nationwide League MVP, a 10-time All-Star, a two-time All-Star Recreation MVP, a two-time NLCS MVP and a World Sequence champion in 1981 with Los Angeles.
Garvey’s World Sequence victory came visiting the Yankees — identical to the 2024 Dodgers.
“Simply the Yankees and the Dodgers being within the World Sequence I believe is nice for baseball,” Garvey mentioned.
That 1981 World Sequence was the final time the Dodgers and Yankees had met within the Fall Traditional earlier than this 12 months — though the 2 historic rivals have confronted one another for the title 12 instances, greater than some other two groups in MLB historical past.
Garvey was part of three of these World Sequence — he additionally confronted the Yankees in 1977 and ’78, along with ’81 — so he is aware of in addition to anybody what a Dodgers-Yankees World Sequence showdown is like.
“Getting an opportunity to play in ’77 and ’78, two comparable groups going at it, after which ’81, was the most effective of the World Sequence,” Garvey mentioned. “It is at all times nice for the sport when New York and L.A. are in it.”
The MLB legends at Thursday’s Gold Glove gold carpet occasion had been a becoming choice after this 12 months’s Fall Traditional — Garvey a World Sequence champion with the Dodgers, Williams a four-time winner with the Yankees, and Mattingly a Yankees icon who spent his total enjoying profession with the Bronx Bombers earlier than managing the Dodgers, giving him ties to each franchises.
“It was arduous to observe for me,” Williams mentioned. “I used to be simply ready for them to place that fireplace out within the fifth inning, and it actually by no means occurred. I used to be somewhat disenchanted, as a result of I used to be with them in Spring Coaching, and spent a while with them, and I knew how excited they had been concerning the season. It was simply arduous to observe them implode like that. It was actually arduous to observe.”
Williams, who was a key a part of the Yankees’ dynasty that gained World Sequence in 1996, ’98, ’99 and 2000 — with Williams successful Gold Gloves in yearly of the three-peat — is hopeful that the Bronx Bombers will have the ability to bounce again and win their first championship since 2009.
“I do know they have been going at it for some time, this specific group of fellows,” Williams mentioned. “There’s at all times an expectation, particularly for the Yankees, to no less than be within the postseason yearly. In order that they’re constructing a staff with that in thoughts. They’re so near overcoming that hump — to make it to the World Sequence and win it. I believe they’re actually shut, and it is gonna be attention-grabbing to see what sort of strikes they’re gonna make within the offseason to make that occur.”
