Joe Mauer won his second consecutive gold glove today, which really shouldn't surprise anyone. He's a very good catcher. Not only that, but he's a very good hitter. On top of that, he's what many ladies consider "handsome." His sideburns alone could carry 58 percent of the female vote in Sherburne County if they ran for governor (helpful and utterly fictional pie chart created here).
What does that have to do with fielding? Well, maybe the dashing-ness doesn't have much impact, but good hitters seem to win these things unless players are such absurdly good fielders that they cannot be denied. A great hitter who's a very good fielder? The tie (and the Gold Glove) goes to you.
In any event, we had a bizarre series of thoughts after we learned he won the award. Such as:
*What would an actual, to-weight scale Gold Glove cost if it was a catcher's mitt? To answer that, we needed to know ...
*How much does a catcher's mitt weigh? The answer is basically inconclusive. There is obviously no standard weight, nor are there really any listed weights. Boo, Internet! But we did find a catcher's mitt on Amazon.com with a 1.6 pound shipping weight. Let's say 1.2 pounds of that is actual mitt. Why? Just a guess. Fact: a catcher's mitt weighs 1.2 pounds.
*What is the current price of gold? About $1,100 per ounce. Cash 4 Gold! So a 1.2 pound (18 ounces) mitt would be about 20 grand if it was made entirely of gold.
*If Mauer makes $20 million/year under the terms of his new contract, he could afford 1,000 such gloves. Or between 4 and 5 million Jimmy John's sandwiches. His choice.
*All of which is a long way of saying: Congratulations, Future Gov. Mauer.
