Does anyone know why Mickey Mantle won a Gold Glove Award in 1962? It seems odd to me. It certainly wasn't his best season defensively. They didn't even have the award when he was at his best defensively. He played in only 117 games that season. He spent 23 games in RF and 94 games in CF. If I had a gold glove caliber center fielder I wouldn't move him to right field for 23 games. Was someone else hurt that season so they decided to give Mantle a lifetime achievement award?

If you look at the stats, he certainly deserved the award in 1955 and 1956, before the award existed, and in 1959, when the award actually did exist. He had good years defensively in 1960 and 1961, but he didn't win the award in those years either. In 1962 he didn't deserve it all all, not even close.