Our ongoing MLB Monday Gold Glove miniseries marches forward into the 1980s, that decade of excess which laid ruin to almost everything Americans fought for in World War II. This entry is dominated by four players with Hall of Fame credentials who were, evidently, very overrated defensively. It’s kind of shocking, in truth, to see how the voting tilted here to favoring “popular” players undeservedly. We aim to correct that.

Here are the “worst” American League GG winners of the Eighties, in reverse order … we had some multiple offenders here, clearly, so it’s actually only a “Bottom 9” this week:

9. Cecil Cooper, 1B, 1980 (0.0 dWAR): He won two Gold Gloves, this one and the egregious one in 1979. Clearly, this wasn’t that big of a deal, but it still makes this list due to the plentiful multiple offenders below. His best season with the glove came in 1973 (0.2), so he was never a good fielder, in truth. Again, we’re not picking on him for this one, as it was a breakeven proposition with his 6.0 oWAR, really. That “O” pattern!

8. Dwayne Murphy, CF, 1984 (-0.1 dWAR): He won six consecutive GGs from 1980-1985, and this was the only one where he finished with negative value. He compiled 5.7 dWAR in the first four years of Gold Glove winning, and then he fell off a cliff here at age 29. He did recover in this sixth year to post 0.4 dWAR, and then he didn’t win the vote in 1986 when he jumped back up to 1.9 dWAR. Damage done, evidently. Crazy.

7. Gary Gaetti, 3B, 1988 (-0.1 dWAR): This was the third of four straight vote wins, and it was the only one in the red. Overall, too, he was a great defender in his career (15.9 dWAR). We have no issue with this one, truly, as it was the first time in his career at that point he brought negative value in the field, and it wasn’t by much, either, at age 29. The only other bad season he had was in 1992, so we can forgive him for this.

6. Eddie Murray, 1B, 1982 (-0.5 dWAR): The first of three straight GGs, he compiled 0.3 dWAR in his subsequent seasons that also won the vote. Weird, since he had never posted positive value in the field prior to this season. However? His 4.9 oWAR during the season was a career high at the time, and that’s one of those proverbs we’ve often heard before in generic commentary on bad Gold Glove awards. So be it, right?

5. Mike Squires, 1B, 1981 (-0.7 dWAR): Seriously, who is this guy?! Bonus points to you if you knew he played for Chicago White Sox from 1977-1985. From 1977-1980, he compiled 0.6 dWAR, so the voters at the time must have thought, “Why not?!” This was also his age-29 season, and he never posted positive glovework value again in his MLB career. But he may win the award for most random GG vote winner ever.

4. Kirby Puckett, CF, 1986-1987/1989 (-0.5/-0.7/-0.1 dWAR): Yeah, this one is interesting. We always wondered about his frame and why people thought he was a good defender, but while he made some highlight reels, he also had no chance at many fly balls. He won four straight GG votes from 1986-1989, and only once in that stretch did he finish in positive dWAR (1988, 1.0). These votes are a funny thing, you know?

3. Don Mattingly, 1B, 1985-1986/1988-1989 (-0.8/-0.8/-0.6/-0.8 dWAR): This player came up a long time ago and was one of the inspirations for this miniseries as a result. Donnie Baseball was one of our personal faves, but he won nine GGs (1985-1989, 1991-1994) somehow despite a career -6.2 dWAR combined. Only one Gold Glove vote win came in a year (1987) where he finished with positive defensive value. Wait two weeks.

2. Dwight Evans, RF, 1982-1985 (-0.4/-1.0/-1.6/-0.9 dWAR): He is our third quadruple failure now, along with the fellow above and one idiot last week from the 1970s NL. He had a very strong arm, and no one doubts that, but his range was something else with his long, lanky frame. In 1981, he did post 1.1 dWAR, however, and he was an MVP candidate, too. But these four seasons are something else altogether. Egads.

1. Dave Winfield, RF, 1982-1985/1987 (-1.3/-2.2/-1.1/-0.7/-1.5 dWAR): Our first quintuple loser here, ever! Again, powerful arm, but that didn’t equate to good range, we suspect, with his height and lunging around for balls in spacious outfields. His -22.7 dWAR is painful, in truth, to look at now. Only three seasons of his entire career (1976-1977, 1979) did he finish with positive glove value. Let that sink in for a moment. Brutal.