Alex Gordon lauds Royals fan base for sending him out as Platinum Glove Award winner
After 14 major-league seasons that included two World Series appearances and the franchise’s first championship in 30 years, Alex Gordon’s mutual love affair with the Kansas City Royals and the region hasn’t just been cemented. It has been preserved in platinum.
Gordon, who announced his retirement at the end of this year’s pandemic-shortened MLB season, has largely based his post-playing career daily schedule around being buckled in and ready to pull out of the driveway at 7:45 a.m. with his two sons in tow in order to get in the car line at their school.
He has found some time to take up a new sport, golf, where the left-handed hitting outfielder has started learning the finer points of a right-handed golf swing from former KU player Kevin Ward at The Golf Stable.
On Friday, MLB interrupted Gordon’s retirement for the second time in a week with the announcement that he’d followed up his franchise-record tying eighth Gold Glove Award with the American League’s Rawlings Platinum Glove for the second time in his career. He also won the Platinum Glove honor in 2014.
Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado won the National League honor.
“What a tremendous honor,” Gordon said. “Obviously, it speaks volumes for the fan base here in Kansas City and the love and support they’ve given me throughout my career, good and bad.
“What a way to send me off with this award. It’s all because of them, their voting, their support. What a way to go out. I could thank them over and over again. This is why I stuck with this organization. I love this team. I love this organization. And I love these fans.”
Rawlings established the Platinum Glove in 2011, and it gave fans the chance to vote for the best defensive player at any position in each league. Starting in 2013, the award added a sabermetric component by using the Society for American Baseball Research’s Defensive Index along with the fan vote to determine the winners (one from each league).
Gordon is the only outfielder to earn the honor twice. Infielders Matt Chapman (2018-19), Adrian Beltre (2011-12) and Arenado (2017-20) as well as catcher Yadier Molina (2011-12, 2014-15) have also won multiple times.
“To win a Gold Glove is unbelievable,” Gordon said. “But then to actually get a Platinum when there’s only one guy in each league, it speaks volumes of the fans. It kind of reminds me of 2015 when they got out and voted for all of us for the All-Star Game. Everybody outside of Kansas City was going crazy because we were all making it to the team, but it shows that this community is something special. When something good happens, they rally around it.”
Having initially broken into the majors as a third baseman, Gordon converted to a left fielder in 2010. Earlier in the week, he tied legendary Royals infielder Frank White for the most Gold Glove Award honors (eight) in club history.
Gordon, 36, became just the third position player to win the Gold Glove in his final season, along with outfielder Roberto Clemente and first baseman Wes Parker, who both won in 1972.
Gordon ranked first among AL left fielders in ultimate zone rating (UZR, 3.1), third in defensive runs saved (one), third in outfield assists (four) and had the fourth-most putouts (81). He also had four outfield assists which tied him for the sixth-most in the league.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft out of the University of Nebraska, Gordon had been a local legend in his home state. Born in Lincoln and having enjoyed highly-decorated prep and collegiate careers, the three-time All-Star built his legacy in a Royals uniform on defense and clutch performances in the playoff runs in 2014 and 2015.
“To be honest,” Gordon said, “To be sitting here in Kansas City saying I’m going to be pretty much living here my whole life, I never would have guessed it. I always thought I would be a Nebraska kid, grown and stay there. But this is the place I love, and this where we grew our family. This is home for us, and we love this town, love this city and we love the Kansas City Royals.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 8:50 PM.
