After a quick respite, our Gold Glove analysis on MLB Monday resurfaces in the 2000s, exploring those players who deserved to win awards for their defensive prowess—but did not, ever, in their careers. What is below represents some incredible defensive efforts in the annals of MLB history, efforts that have gone unrewarded sadly: “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

Troy Glaus, 3B: He was everybody decent‘s personal savior in the 2002 World Series, but he never won a Gold Glove in his career, despite being a solid glove man at the hot corner in 2000 (1.9 dWAR) and 2002 (1.1 dWAR). Even with a career-best 6.3 oWAR in 2000, that wasn’t enough to get on the voters’ radar at the time. We wonder why … maybe it was because his team didn’t make the playoffs that season? Bad luck.

Félix Martínez, SS: Blink and you might had missed his career (1997-2001). With only 239 regular-season games under his belt, it’s easier to see why this guy never won a Gold Glove. Yet his 2.1 dWAR in 2000 across 106 games certainly was enough to get someone’s attention, somewhere, right? He even set a career-best mark in oWAR that year … even though it was only 0.3 oWAR. Alas, again, blink, as we all missed him. Doh!

David Bell, 3B: As a third-generation MLB nepo baby, we’re surprised he never won a Gold Glove. In the final six years of his career, he posted a combined 8.9 dWAR without earning much recognition. He had to work at this, too, since his overall career dWAR was just 9.9 in the end. Still, in three different seasons (2001, 2004, 2005), he earned at least 2.0 dWAR. In 2004, he even put up his best offensive numbers. Boo!

Doug Glanville, OF: We love this guy for other reasons, yet his defense? Was up and down throughout his nine MLB seasons. He peaked with 2.3 dWAR in 2002, and his nadir was the 0.1 dWAR he earned in his final season (2004). However, his offense was tops in 1999 and then faded from there, so we can see how his 2002 defensive effort was ignored by the GG voters. We respect him for playing the game the way it should be.

Nomar Garciaparra, SS: We already explored how underrated he was in his prime, but we didn’t realize he never won a Gold Glove—despite 9.6 dWAR compiled through his age-29 season in 2003, right before injuries started to derail his career, sadly. It’s a sham Derek Jeter won multiple GGs when this guy never won a single trophy. He was worthy of it with five seasons of 1.5 dWAR or more (1997-98, 2000, 2002-03).

Melvin Mora, UTL: In 2002, he posted 2.1 dWAR while playing four positions (left, short, center, second). If that kind of performance doesn’t get recognized, what can you do? Sure, it was his peak defensive-value season in a 13-year career that featured two All-Star nods, but the voters should have noticed he was all over the diamond and gloving it all up with excellence. He only finished his career with 3.6 dWAR, though.

Rafael Furcal, SS: This guy was known for his glove work, so to end his career with 15.0 dWAR and no Gold Gloves seems to be a little problematic. He, too, had five seasons of 1.5-plus dWAR in his MLB tour (2002-03, 2005, 2007, 2009). In fact, his 3.2 dWAR in 2005 was the fourth-best mark overall in the majors … yet just third among NL shortstops. Therein lies the rub, eh? It’s hard to compete sometimes. What a shame.

Juan Uribe, SS/3B: He was GG worthy at two different positions in his career, but he was never recognized for his glovework (14.1 dWAR overall). Three times he registered at least 1.7 dWAR without winning a Gold Glove (2002 at short; 2004 as UTL; 2014 as 3B). He also played on two World Series championship teams (2005, 2010), and that didn’t help him get any recognition for his abilities, either. What does one have to do?

David Eckstein, SS: Speaking of playing for two championship teams, this guy put up 1.9 dWAR for a playoff team that won the World Series (2002) and still didn’t win the Gold Glove—even with 4.3 oWAR to go along with it. Highway robbery, really. His 1.0 dWAR for the 2006 champions also needs to be noted. Admittedly his glove went very downhill after that second title, but what he did beforehand still matters.

Jack Wilson, SS/2B: With 21.0 dWAR for his career, he should feel robbed. He never had a full season with less than 1.1 dWAR, and in 2005, his 4.1 dWAR topped the majors. Yet still no Gold Glove … how is that possible?! What were the voters looking at? Clearly, they were caught with their eyes closed. His bat was never huge, but in 2004, he was an All Star with 3.7 oWAR and 1.9 dWAR. But no GG vote win there, either.

José Hernández, SS: At age 32 in 2002, he posted 1.9 dWAR and was named an All Star. His career-best 3.5 oWAR helped him there, but it wasn’t enough to get him a Gold Glove. His 8.4 career dWAR is a good mark, but spread out over 15 years, it’s not as impressive as one might need to land a GG vote on reputation alone. But he actually played eight positions in his career, too: everything but catcher. At least he has the ASG nod.

Mark Ellis, 2B: Regardless of his 2005 outlier performance at the plate, he was a great defensive second baseman before his torn labrum in 2004. With 17.9 dWAR total for his career, he never posted negative defensive value. He put up 2.1 dWAR in 2003 without winning a GG vote, and he also managed 2.8 dWAR in 2008 and 2.3 dWAR in 2011. Ellis probably is one of the better keystone defenders this century, in all truth.

Adam Everett, SS: An all-glove, no-bat shortstop in the old-school mode, his career WAR splits are pretty drastic (0.9 oWAR, 15.7 dWAR). From 2003-2007, he compiled 13.9 dWAR while playing for some very good Houston squads, and yet he never won a Gold Glove—even when he topped the entire majors with 4.1 dWAR in 2006. Yeah, he had a lot of famous teammates, but they all would have sworn on his defense.

Marcus Giles, 2B: In a seven-season career, he had one stellar year in the field (2003). He played on a division winner, put up 2.3 dWAR at the keystone for a team that depended on good pitching, and his 5.9 oWAR that season got him MVP votes as well as an All-Star selection. But it did not win him a Gold Glove. We know it’s easy to look back with incredulity at some of these omissions, and there are a lot of them.

Paul Lo Duca, C: His 2.9 dWAR in 2003 was the top number in the National League for all players, and yet he did not win the Gold Glove. But his bat was already in decline at that point, from a peak point in 2001, and that inverse dynamic probably hurt him with voters. He posted 1.7 dWAR combined in 2004 while playing for two different teams, one in each league, so that would have hurt him there as well. Quirky!

Hank Blalock, 3B: Here we again with a player who topped the majors with 3.0 dWAR in 2003 and yet didn’t win the Gold Glove. He also posted 3.7 oWAR that year and was named to the AL All-Star team. So why no GG vote win? No clue, folks—none. This was the peak of his career, sadly, at age 22, and somehow he got MVP votes the following season despite his overall WAR mark dropping by 1.8 points. Whatever!

Brian Schneider, C: So, he was the last regular starting catcher for the Montréal Expos, posting a whopping 3.2 dWAR in 2004. His career year got him nothing—no All-Star nod and no Gold Glove, either. Even for posterity’s sake, it would have been appropriate to reward him with the GG vote win, eh? From 2002-2006, he posted a combined 6.5 dWAR for the franchise as it moved from Quebec to Washington, DC.