The continuing MLB Monday Gold Glove miniseries continues through the 1970s today, finishing with the senior-circuit offenders of the worst order. We started with the brief 1950s analysis and have moved through the Sixties, seeing some surprising names show up here. This entry in the sequence is no different, although some of the names here are also repeat offenders from the prior decades. They sure fooled voters!

Here are the “worst” National League GG winners of the Seventies, in reverse order, plus two “Honorable Mention” additions:

HM. Félix Millán, 2B, 1972 (-0.1 dWAR): He won a legit Gold Glove in 1969 when he posted 1.5 dWAR, but this second GG vote win was undeserved. It’s almost like the voters didn’t know who else to vote for, so they went back to a well that had mostly run dry. He did finish his career with 3.5 dWAR overall across 12 seasons, but even that is not all that interesting. Half of his dozen MLB years were in the negative dWAR.

HM. Doug Rader, 3B, 1973 (-0.1 dWAR): The fourth of five consecutive GG wins, this was the only one where he posted negative dWAR. The other four seasons combined for 2.5 dWAR, so this can be somewhat explained away in the sense the voters gave him the benefit of the doubt, despite whatever their eyes saw. Oddly, he finished his 11-year career with only 2.3 dWAR overall. His prime was good; not much else was.

10. Bobby Bonds, RF, 1971 (-0.1 dWAR): We put him in the Top 10, because of his position. No outfielder should ever win a Gold Glove with negative dWAR, especially a right fielder. This was an odd vote, too, because he had compiled -0.9 dWAR in his first three MLB seasons combined. He won two more GGs later while posting 1.0 dWAR in those seasons, together. So, maybe this was an anomaly, but it’s still a weird one.

9. Pete Rose, RF, 1970 (-0.3 dWAR): The second straight Gold Glove for him, and both were in seasons he posted negative dWAR. With -13.2 dWAR for his long career, it’s kind of sad he won two GGs he didn’t deserve. There are a lot of things to admire about him as a player—but his glove work was never one of them. The fact his plaque in Cooperstown will claim him as a GG winner is annoying … oh wait. Our bad.

8. César Cedeño, CF, 1975/1976 (-0.4/-0.1 dWAR): He won five consecutive GGs from 1972-1976, but these last two were mistakes as he lived off his prior reputation. The 1976 campaign was his seventh, though, and the only years with positive dWAR were 1972-1974, so it’s odd he even won a GG vote with the 0.3 dWAR in that first year (1972). Alas, 1973 and 1974 were his best dWAR seasons ever (0.9 each), so he stretched it out.

7. Wes Parker, 1B, 1971/1972 (-0.4/-0.5 dWAR): He secured his fourth straight GG in 1970 with an even-zero dWAR mark, but then he won these final two, undeservedly, again, just like the ones from 1967-1969. It’s incredible, really. Six Gold Gloves and five of them came in seasons where he was a negative defender—and the sixth came in a year where he was not a positive defender. This is like some old hockey equation, eh?

6. Mike Jorgensen, 1B, 1973 (-0.5 dWAR): In a 17-year career that produced just -4.6 dWAR, this was his only Gold Glove, and we’re struggling to recognize why he was chosen at the time. This was a third consecutive year for him with the same dWAR mark in the red; it’s not like he had been building a reputation. He didn’t hit particularly well this year. Ironically, his best season came the follow year (0.6).

5. Joe Morgan, 2B, 1977 (-0.5 dWAR): This was last of five straight GG vote wins, and it wasn’t deserved. From 1971-1976, though, he posted a combined 7.4 dWAR, so we can (maybe?) forgive voters for not seeing his decline, especially since it was gradual (2.0 in 1975 and then 0.4 in 1976). He finished a 22-season career with just 3.8 dWAR, so he clearly had a prime above with his glove in the field (ages 27-32). That’s all, folks.

4. Keith Hernandez, 1B, 1978 (-0.6 dWAR): His own 17-year career came with a mere 1.3 dWAR combined, and we’re not sure why he won this Gold Glove. Before this season, he’d played four MLB years to an overall 0.0 dWAR total. His bat was even weaker in 1978, too, than it had been the year before when he sort of broke out as a “star” of sorts. Overall, he won 11 GGs in his career, but this first one and the last two were not legit.

3. César Gerónimo, CF, 1976 (-0.7 dWAR): He posted 6.5 dWAR combined in the prior three seasons, but then his defense fell off a cliff in 1976—and the voters clearly didn’t notice? He rebounded to positive glove work the following season to win a fourth-straight Gold Glove, too. But he peaked before this vote win, for sure. His career mark (5.9 dWAR) reflects the pattern we see a lot: rough start, high peak, hard decline.

2. Steve Garvey, 1B, 1974-1977 (-0.9/-0.4/-0.6/-0.3 dWAR): Our first-ever quadruple loser, these were the only four GGs he won in his career, and like the franchise guy before him (on this list above), the media just fell for the defensive bullshit. Why?! He finished -11.7 dWAR for his career as a whole, so this is kind of a joke as we pointed out in the analysis of Hall of Fame candidacy. We refused to give him our 1974 NL MVP.

1. Ken Reitz, 3B, 1975 (-1.4 dWAR): Does anyone reading this even know who this guy was? He finished his career, mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals, with an overall WAR mark that is humiliating (-3.1). Oddly, his dWAR career total (1.6) was positive. This was his only Gold Glove win; it came in a season where he posted -2.6 WAR overall. How is that even possible?! He was terrible at the plate and in the field, but sure … okay.