By Jim Molony / MLB.com

Mike Hampton's first Gold Glove ended Greg Maddux's 13-season run in the NL. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

St. Louis, which last year became the first NL team since the 1993 San Francisco Giants to have four Gold Glove winners, did it again this year as outfielder Jim Edmonds, third baseman Scott Rolen, shortstop Edgar Renteria and catcher Mike Matheny were honored. Edmonds, Rolen and Renteria, along with second baseman Fernando Vina, were winners last year. Matheny, who also won in 2000, picked up his second Gold Glove.

"It is a great honor, but it's definitely one I that I wasn't expecting, I thought I could have had a better year," Matheny told Channel 5 in St. Louis.

Also making the team were Atlanta pitcher Mike Hampton and outfielder Andruw Jones, Florida first baseman Derrek Lee and second baseman Luis Castillo and San Francisco outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. Hampton, Lee, Castillo and Cruz are first-time winners.

2003 Gold Glove winners AMERICAN LEAGUE
C	Bengie Molina, ANA
1B	John Olerud, SEA
2B	Bret Boone, SEA
3B	Eric Chavez, OAK
SS	Alex Rodriguez, TEX
OF	Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
OF	Mike Cameron, SEA
OF	Torii Hunter, MIN
P	Mike Mussina, NYY
NATIONAL LEAGUE
C	Mike Matheny, STL
1B	Derrek Lee, FLA
2B	Luis Castillo, FLA
3B	Scott Rolen, STL
SS	Edgar Renteria, STL
OF	Andruw Jones, ATL
OF	Jose Cruz Jr., SF
OF	Jim Edmonds, STL
P	Mike Hampton, ATL

Over a team-high 158 games, Cruz made only two errors in 360 total chances for a .994 percentage. The sure-handed outfielder also set a San Francisco record with 18 outfield assists, prompting manager Felipe Alou to say in August that "they ought to give him the Gold Glove right now."

"I was dealing with some boring stuff on the other line and I said, 'Let me see who this is,' and when they told me I was ecstatic," Cruz said. "I'm on a high right now. It's something big that I can always hold. My pop (Astros first base coach Jose Cruz) never got one, so this one's for him too, we finally got one in the family."

Hampton succeeds his teammate Greg Maddux, a fixture on the Gold Glove team who had won the award for a pitcher 13 consecutive years or every season since Ron Darling won it as a member of the New York Mets in 1989.

Rolen has won four consecutive NL Gold Gloves at third base, the most consecutively since Mike Schmidt of Philadelphia won nine in a row during 1976-84. Rolen has won the honor five of the last six seasons.

Edmonds has won four consecutive Gold Gloves since joining St. Louis and six overall counting two he won while with the Angels (1997 and 1998).

Jones has won the award six consecutive years, the longest string by an NL outfielder since Andre Dawson won six in a row 1980-85 for Montreal. He committed only three errors despite 391 chances, second most among league outfielders.

Lee, whose sterling fielding helped lead the Marlins to the World Series title, beat out Todd Helton of Colorado, the winner the last two years, for first base honors.

Lee and Castillo are the first teammates on the right side of an NL infield to win Gold Gloves in the same season since Houston's Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio in 1994.

"It's well deserved," said Marlins first base coach Perry Hill, who coaches the infielders. "Both take a lot of pride in their defense and work very hard at it."

The measure of fielding excellence since 1957, the Gold Glove Award is presented annually to eighteen players, one for each position, in both the National and American Leagues. These outstanding players are selected as the best fielding players at their respective positions by Major League coaches and managers prior to the conclusion of the regular season. Managers and coaches may not select players from their own club and only vote for players in their own league.

Jim Molony is a writer for MLB.com based in Houston. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.