The fans have decided that St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is simply the best of the best when it comes to major league defense. According to Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal, Yadier Molina and Adrian Beltre have been awarded Rawlings Platinum Gloves for 2011. Here is the announcement in Fisher's own words, via Twitter:
EricFisherSBJ Eric FisherAdrian Beltre and Yadier Molina given Rawlings Platinum Gloves - best of the best among '11 Gold Glovers.
What exactly is the Platinum Gold Glove award? Essentially, fans were asked to evaluate the pool of actual Gold Glove winners in 2011 and select the best defensive players from that group to receive the award. Mike Thompson, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Rawlings explains:
Once the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners are announced, the 'watercooler' debate as to who is the best defensive player rages with friends, co-workers and now across the social media landscape. Since major-league managers and coaches select the 18 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, we wanted to create an outlet and an icon for the fans to voice their opinion as to who 'the best of the best' is on the diamond.
Molina was awarded his fourth straight Gold Glove earlier this month, and now the fans have named him the best among his fellow Gold Glove winners.
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