Rafael Palmeiro, in his first season with the Rangers, landed the AL Gold Glove in 1999. He played all of 28 games at first base that season, 128 as the designated hitter. But he had a career year at the plate, batting .324 with 47 home runs and 148 RBI and setting career highs. He played 159 games at first the previous season, winning his second Gold Glove. Voters obviously looked at the ‘99 ballot, asked themselves, “who is a good first baseman?” remembered Palmeiro and checked the box next to his name.

Palmeiro reportedly received a $50,000 bonus for winning an award he didn’t deserve.

The Twins first baseman at the time was the slick fielding rookie Doug Mientkiewicz, who batted .229 over 118 games that season. He was fabulous at first from the moment he reached the majors and articulated the game better than 10-year veterans.

“[Palmeiro] won a Gold Glove at first and a Silver Slugger at DH, all in the same year,” Mientkiewicz said by phone on Tuesday. “You can tell I’ve let it go, can’t ya?”

Back then, Mientkiewicz felt offense factored in the voting at times. He believes managers and coaches have been more thoughtful while filling out their ballots in recent years. He hopes that offense doesn’t become a tiebreaker if two players are evenly matched, using games played instead.

Mientkiewicz did win the elusive Gold Glove in 2001 with the Twins — a year during which he established career highs in batting average, home runs and RBI. He spent seven of his 12 seasons with the Twins and won a World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox following a deadline day trade with Boston in town for a four-game series.