Gold Glove Legend Dead

[softball66]

Just got news that the man who developed the idea of the now famous "Gold Glove" Award for Rawlings, Elmer Blasco, died August 1.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Elmer for our second newsletter and he knew the game from the fielders standpoint. He gave us details how Rawlings signed Mickey Mantle to a glove contract (had to break a lot of other glove contracts to do it) which was sealed with the purchase of a shotgun for the Mick's dad.
Elmer discovered that 83% or so of major leaguers were using Rawlings gloves in the mid 1950s and wasn't bashful about announcing the fact to the chagrin of some of the other glove companies' execs.
Elmer came up with the idea of the gold glove when he saw Wilson awarding "Silver Bats" for league leaders. The gold glove is one of the most prized goals of baseball's bests.