This MLB Monday Gold Glove miniseries entry focuses on the National League “winners” in the Decade of Excess, and … yeah, there were some serious excesses taken here by the voters. Egads! There are three instances below of players winning the GG vote despite posting dWAR marks worse than minus-2.0 for the season. That is just unreal; how could the voters not see this sort of thing with their own eyes? Mon dieu!

Here are the “worst” National League GG winners of the Eighties, in reverse order:

10. Manny Trillo, 2B, 1981 (-0.2 dWAR): This doesn’t look so bad in comparison to the players below, as he had compiled 5.5 dWAR in the prior five seasons, including a GG win in 1979 (1.6). However, he slumped this season, and the voters didn’t “care”? He rebounded in 1982 for another “legit” GG vote win (0.5), but this one year stands out. Maybe we can forgive the voters, as they just went with a seemingly known entity here.

9. Keith Hernandez, 1B, 1987-1988 (-0.4/-0.3 dWAR): He made our list for the 1970s, too, so that’s bit shameful. But after that season (1978)? He did post 10 straight seasons of positive dWAR, winning eight GGs in the process. So, maybe the voters can be forgiven for these two blunders, as his decline was gradual and subtle. But we still need to point out he was never a “great” defender; he was just barely above average.

8. Andre Dawson, 1985/1987-1988 (-0.2/-0.6/-0.4 dWAR): We all know the stories how the Montréal turf ruined his knees, etc., but he wasn’t any better in Wrigley, either. From 1980-1984, he won five legit GG votes with a combined 7.0 dWAR, but things went south in 1985. We can forgive the voters that one vote, for aforementioned reasons, but the switch to natural turf didn’t help, and voters should have noticed. Bad.

7. Dusty Baker, LF, 1981 (-0.7 dWAR): This was the only GG vote win for a player with a -6.0 dWAR mark for his full career. Terrible, as we already had to take away his 1981 World Series MVP split, too. The final eight seasons of his playing career (1979-1986), he compiled -6.1 dWAR as every season was in the red, glove-work wise. Clearly, he was never a good defender. A lot of his “legend” is hogwash … in all ways, obvi.

6. Ryne Sandberg, 2B, 1987 (-0.9 dWAR): This was literally the only negative defensive-value year of his career, so we can forgive the voters, somewhat. He won nine GG votes from 1983-1991, so maybe they just didn’t notice this year was so bad. Of course, they still should have noticed, since it wasn’t one of those “barely negative” seasons. It was an obviously bad glove-work year! Anyway, we’re not super concerned.

5. Andrés Galarraga, 1B, 1989 (-1.1 dWAR): We have a lot of issues here with a player who compiled -14.9 dWAR for his career overall. Every full season of his career he was in negative defensive value, but he still somehow won this Gold Glove and another one in 1990—which will probably make our list in two weeks when we do that decade. His breakout offensively came in 1988, so maybe there’s a correlation there. Hmm.

4. Dave Winfield, RF, 1980 (-1.4 dWAR): He was a “star” in our AL 1980s piece last week, because he moved from San Diego to New York after this travesty of a GG vote win. But for a guy with -22.7 dWAR overall for his career … we’re just speechless. Yes, he won an NL GG in 1979 with 0.6 dWAR; how could voters not see a drop in performance from one year to the next when it was so drastic? He won seven GGs overall. Soak it in.

3. Eric Davis, CF, 1988-1989 (-0.6/-2.2 dWAR): We think this is another example of turf ruining a player. But in truth, he was never a great glove man (-9.1 dWAR career). He won a legit GG vote in 1987 with 0.9 dWAR, but he regressed to his “norm” pretty quickly, winning these two votes undeservedly. His 1987 season—offensive and defensive, combined—really blinded the voters for awhile, until he broke down fully, really.

2. Dale Murphy, CF, 1984-1986 (-0.7/-2.2/-1.8 dWAR): Where to start here? We confirmed his 1982 NL MVP vote win, but we did not confirm his 1983 NL MVP vote win. Both those seasons? A combined 0.1 dWAR. These were the subsequent three seasons when his defense slipped into hell. Ironically, from 1987-1989, he posted a combined 2.0 dWAR without winning a GG vote. Come on, voters … that’s just ridiculous, right?!

1. Tony Gwynn, RF, 1989 (-2.8 dWAR): From 1983-1987, he compiled 2.5 dWAR, which wasn’t great, but it could classified as solid and above average. He won GG votes in 1986 and 1987, posting 0.8 dWAR there combined. He dipped to -0.8 dWAR in 1988 and did not win the GG vote. So why did voters look at this season and give him the nod?! His career was up and down, defensively, for sure, but this is the worst ever.