The (Evil) Allure of the Pinstripes

 After the MVP and Cy Young Awards, the Golden Glove is the most coveted award in all of baseball. It measures who, in the voters estimation, is the best at fielding their position in their league. Players such as Pudge Rodriguez and Greg Maddux won upwards of ten straight of these things. It is one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports. Well, until now. My opinion of the award has now been shot. The 2010 American League Gold Glove winner for shortstop was Derek Jeter. Mediocrity does not even begin to describe his fielding prowess. He, time and time again, makes the routine play look difficult, and he has one of the smallest ranges as far as shortstops go in his league. He plays deep on every pitch and hopes that the ball is not rocketed past him. He is the "proud" recipient of the Danny Golden "Most Overrated Play Ever" award in which, in the playoffs against Oakland, was caught entirely out of position and got lucky when he cut a ball of and flipped it to the catcher. He was on the first baseline, and, trust me, that was not out of instincts. Those who are Jeter supporters will make the claim that having a fielding percentage of .989 makes him deserving. No. In my estimation, a Gold Glove-winning shortstop (arguably the most important position on the field) has to actually try on slow-rollers and balls deep in the gap. Jeter won because he is Jeter, a word synonymous with another dirty word: Yankee.