First Gloves: Dave Winfield

Dave Winfield is a great example of how terrible the old Gold Glove process used to be.

Before getting into that, because it won’t be flattering to Winfield’s late-career defensive prowess, we should begin by making it clear that he was a fabulous overall player. This isn’t going to be one of those pieces that retroactively humiliates a guy, or says he was overrated, or claims he doesn’t belong in Cooperstown. Winfield was great, and obviously deserves his plaque.

As a young man, Winfield was a notoriously freakish athlete. He was 6’6”, could run, jump, throw, and hit, and was good at every sport he tried. He went to the University of Minnesota on a full baseball scholarship, but was also good enough to start on the Golden Gophers’ Big Ten championship basketball team as well. On the baseball field he was not only a great hitter, obviously, but a great pitcher, too. He pitched well enough for Minnesota to be named MVP of the College World Series in 1973. Teams in three sports drafted him, including the Minnesota Vikings despite the fact that Winfield hadn’t played college football.

He was the fourth overall pick in the 1973 draft by the Padres, who put him directly onto the big league roster. They never let him pitch, sadly, but there’s a really good argument to be made that Winfield could have been a version of Shohei Ohtani if given the opportunity, because he clearly had the ability to pitch and quickly demonstrated his ability to hit big league pitching. He never played a single minor league game, and yet in 56 games as a 21-year old with no professional experience he batted .277/.331/.383.

What followed was a seven-year run as one of the best all-around players in baseball. From 1974 to 1980, Winfield averaged 22 homers, 88 RBI, 19 steals, and a .284/.358/.467 batting line that translated to a 135 OPS+. He had seasons in which he hit as many as 34 homers and others in which he stole as many as 26 bases. And he was a very good defender during this time. Winfield totaled 14 fielding runs in those seasons, most of it in right field, where he earned the reputation of having an absolute cannon for an arm. That makes sense given his experience pitching. Twice he led the league in outfield assists, and he averaged 13 per season during this span. All of that made him a deserving Gold Glove winner in the last two of these seasons, and got him a glove endorsement deal with Rawlings.