Manny Machado, 2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #120

Last night, Manny Machado became the second Oriole third baseman to ever win a Gold Glove. Of course, the other guy won 16 at the hot corner, so the O's are still well-represented in the annals. Machado, as always bears repeating, is only 21 years old. Brooks Robinson had to wait until he was 23 to receive his first award. Young Manny's incredible range, sure hands, and super-powered throwing arm helped him to beat out a bumper crop of skilled third basemen. Fellow finalists Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre already had six Gold Gloves between them. Baltimore's emerging star was drafted and developed as a shortstop, and is still nimble enough to play at his natural position. One can't help but wonder how dazzling he might be at short.

Of course, Manny is playing at third because of the Birds' incumbent shortstop, J. J. Hardy. Hardy just won his second straight Gold Glove, joining the duo of Mark Belanger and Cal Ripken as the only Baltimore shortstops to win multiple Gold Gloves. Another returning Gold Glover is center fielder Adam Jones, who collected his third trophy in the past five years. Paul Blair is the other O's flychaser to earn consecutive Gold Gloves.

The Orioles took home three Gold Gloves, just as they did in 2012. This tied them with the Royals for the most in the major leagues. Two K.C. Gold Gloves came at the expense of Baltimore finalists, with Eric Hosmer beating out Chris Davis at first base and Salvador Perez besting Matt Wieters at catcher. But then, Hardy topped Alcides Escobar and Jones topped Lorenzo Cain, so THERE.

It's always nice to see the home team add a little hardware, especially when they're receiving notice for their record-setting defensive prowess.