Raleigh and Yanks, Dodgers legends host Gold Glove meet-and-greet

NEW YORK -- MLB and Rawlings rolled out the gold carpet for four of baseball's great fielders -- three past, one present -- in New York City on Thursday afternoon.

To celebrate the 2024 Gold Glove Awards, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh joined Yankees legends Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams and Dodgers legend Steve Garvey for a Gold Glove meet-and-greet with fans at the MLB Flagship Store in New York.

Raleigh was a first-time Gold Glove Award winner this season -- one of a record-tying 14 first-time winners in 2024 -- and the first Mariners catcher ever to win a Gold Glove.

"It feels amazing. A real honor. There was a lot of hard work put into [my defense] this offseason," Raleigh said. "Hopefully there are many more to come."

Raleigh's greatest strength behind the plate might be his pitch framing. This season, he led American League catchers in runs saved from framing, per Statcast. He also led AL catchers with 430 called strikes on pitches he received that were out of the strike zone, and he led all MLB catchers with 61 called strikeouts on out-of-zone pitches.

"I don't want to give you all my secrets," Raleigh joked. "But you're just trying to give them the best visual possible. It's not even really for the umpire, it's just as much for the pitcher. … You want good presentation, and you're really just trying to keep everything in the zone as long as possible. Try to make everything look good, and the rest is up to them. I'm just trying to make it look good and present it the best I can."

Mattingly, Williams and Garvey, meanwhile, were some of the most decorated fielders of their time. Mattingly won nine Gold Glove Awards at first base in his career, second-most of any first baseman behind Keith Hernandez (11). Williams was a four-time Gold Glover in center field, and Garvey was a four-time Gold Glover at first base.

"For me, I think defenses have gotten so much better," said Mattingly, who's now the bench coach for the Blue Jays after managing 12 seasons with the Dodgers and Marlins. "Guys are so athletic. Positioning has gotten so good. … It's tough to get a hit nowadays."

Garvey's Gold Gloves are some of the many career accolades contributing to his Hall of Fame résumé -- he is up for consideration for the Hall of Fame this winter on the Classic Baseball Era ballot, along with Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Parker and Luis Tiant.

"I'm very optimistic," Garvey said. "This era is more the '70s and early '80s, which was the beginning and the sweet spot of my career. Any one of the fellas that are nominated could easily go into the Hall of Fame and deserve it. These guys are Hall of Famers in my mind. We'll just wait and see."

In addition to his four Gold Glove Awards, Garvey was the 1974 National League MVP, a 10-time All-Star, a two-time All-Star Game MVP, a two-time NLCS MVP and a World Series champion in 1981 with Los Angeles.

Garvey's World Series victory came over the Yankees -- just like the 2024 Dodgers.

"Just the Yankees and the Dodgers being in the World Series I think is great for baseball," Garvey said.

That 1981 World Series was the last time the Dodgers and Yankees had met in the Fall Classic before this year -- even though the two historic rivals have faced each other for the title 12 times, more than any other two teams in MLB history.

Garvey was a part of three of those World Series -- he also faced the Yankees in 1977 and '78, in addition to '81 -- so he knows as well as anyone what a Dodgers-Yankees World Series showdown is like.

"Getting a chance to play in '77 and '78, two comparable teams going at it, and then '81, was the best of the World Series," Garvey said. "It's always great for the game when New York and L.A. are in it."

The MLB legends at Thursday's Gold Glove gold carpet event were a fitting selection after this year's Fall Classic -- Garvey a World Series champion with the Dodgers, Williams a four-time winner with the Yankees, and Mattingly a Yankees icon who spent his entire playing career with the Bronx Bombers before managing the Dodgers, giving him ties to both franchises.

Garvey got to see his Dodgers come through, with moments like Freddie Freeman's historic walk-off grand slam in Game 1. Williams had to watch the Yankees suffer a tough loss, particularly in the clinching Game 5, when New York unraveled in the fifth inning and blew a 5-0 lead to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.

"It was hard to watch for me," Williams said. "I was just waiting for them to put that fire out in the fifth inning, and it really never happened. I was a little disappointed, because I was with them in Spring Training, and spent some time with them, and I knew how excited they were about the season. It was just hard to watch them implode like that. It was really hard to watch."

Williams, who was a key part of the Yankees' dynasty that won World Series in 1996, '98, '99 and 2000 -- with Williams winning Gold Gloves in every year of the three-peat -- is hopeful that the Bronx Bombers will be able to bounce back and win their first championship since 2009.

"I know they've been going at it for a while, this particular group of guys," Williams said. "There's always an expectation, especially for the Yankees, to at least be in the postseason every year. So they're building a team with that in mind. They're so close to overcoming that hump -- to make it to the World Series and win it. I think they're really close, and it's gonna be interesting to see what kind of moves they're gonna make in the offseason to make that happen."