Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 54, Medlen, HOF, GG

Golden club

Members of the Atlanta Braves have won 54 Gold Gloves in the history of the awards. While there have often been excellent fielders as part of the Braves organization, two definitely stand out.

The organization has seen many standout fielders since its inception in 1871. In the 1890s, catcher Marty Bergen revolutionized the catching position before he had a psychotic break and met a tragic end to his life. In the 1910s and then again in the early 1930s, Rabbit Maranville was part of the team and was one of the best defensive middle infielders of the era.

Gold Gloves were first handed out in 1957. Since then, 15 players have won 10 or more Gold Gloves. However, none has won more than Greg Maddux. Over his 23 seasons in the major leagues (21 full seasons), Maddux won 18 Gold Gloves, meaning only in 3 full seasons of his career did he NOT garner the award as the league’s best fielding pitcher.

Maddux wasn’t just a surprisingly good athlete in spite of his scholarly off-field look. He was known as “Mad Dog” for his competitive demeanor on the mound, and that’s how he applied himself to his defense as well.

There are many who will argue that no one patrolled the outfield the way that Andruw Jones did.

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Jones played his first full season in 1997 after giving the Atlanta Braves some late season and postseason fireworks as a teenager in 1996. He would win his first Gold Glove in his second full season and win one every remaining full season of his career, the last of which was his final season with the Braves in 2007.

For that entire decade, Jones played at least 154 games in every season and averaged 34 home runs with an .847 OPS while playing absolutely incredible defense.

Only two players have more Gold Gloves than Andruw’s 10, and that’s Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente, who each have a dozen. Mays is commonly the one guy compared to Andruw defensively in center at their respective peaks, though those who saw both often were split over who they thought was the true best between them.

That’s the end of our first “big” countdown day, with many more to come as we creep closer to Opening Day for the Atlanta Braves!