FAST FACT: Gold and Silver

In 1957, Major League Baseball first started awarding Gold Gloves to honor fielding excellence at each position. In 1980, Major League Baseball started giving out the Silver Slugger Award to the best offensive player at each position. To win both awards in the same season is a pretty sweet achievement, although it's happened quite a lot, 63 times in the American League and 69 times in the National League.

In fact, at least one player in each league has won Gold and Silver in the same season, except 1998 and 2000 when the National League did not have a double winner. The American League had 5 players win both Gold and Silver in 1984 (Lance Parrish, Eddie Murray, Lou Whitaker, Buddy Bell and Dave Winfield) and again in 1999 (Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar, Shawn Green and Ken Griffey Jr).

The record for receiving both awards in the same seasons is held by Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr and Ivan Rodriguez, who each did it 7 times. I-Rod also holds the record for consecutive seasons with 6. And Ken Griffey Jr was the youngest player to win both as a 21-year old in 1991. Mike Schmidt was the oldest player to win both as a 37-year old in 1986. And Wade Boggs is the oldest player to become a double winner for the first time when he won Gold and Silver as a 36-year old in 1994.

The only player to win both Gold and Silver in both leagues is Matt Williams. He did it in the National League in 1993 and 1994 and in the American League in 1997. Williams was also part of the only team to have three Gold and Silver winners in the same season. He was joined by Gold and Silver teammates Robby Thompson and Barry Bonds on the 1993 San Francisco Giants.

In 2003, Mike Hampton became the first and only pitcher to win Gold and Silver in the same year. And in 1999, Rafael Palmeiro became the first and only player to win Gold and Silver in the same year, but at different positions. He won a Gold Glove at First Base and a Silver Slugger as a Designated Hitter.

In 2001, Ichiro became the first and only rookie to win both Gold and Silver in the same season. He has not been a double winner since, but he did win the Gold and Silver equivalent in Japan for 7 consecutive years prior to joining the Mariners. Japanese Baseball does award Gold Gloves to the best fielder at each position. But the Japanese equivalent to the Silver Slugger Award is called the Best Nine Award.

The only Red Sox players to win Gold and Silver in the same season were Dwight Evans in 1981, Ellis Burks in 1990 and Jason Varitek in 2005.