Immaculate Grid: Show Off Your Useless Baseball Depth Knowledge!

[SoxJox]

Today's grid #2: 9/9 with rarity score of 22, my lowest to date.

I got the bottom right cell only because I used to live about an hour outside of Philly and knew their history relatively better that others (I wanted to use Richie Ashburn, but I had already used him for the Mets-Phillies cell). And Joe Pepitone was a player my older b brother idolized for some reason. He always called him Joe Pepperoniatone

Spoiler

 

[Brand Name]

And we've made this game to an SI! piece. I'm somehow mentioned. Had always hoped doing so would be because I made it on the cover of the swimsuit issue but this is a solid silver.

Man, this world is weird when I'm in baseball.

 

[edoug]

And we've made this game to an SI! piece. I'm somehow mentioned. Had always hoped doing so would be because I made it on the cover of the swimsuit issue but this is a solid silver.

Man, this world is weird when I'm in baseball.

Congratulations Jessica!

 

[Deweys New Stance]

I didn't complete the first grid today in time (took too long thinking of a Ray/Angel when Hunter Renfroe was sitting right there) but got a 9/9 with a rarity score of 16 (pretty sure my best yet) on the second grid of today's doubleheader. It paid to be old for this one.

Spoiler

And congratulations @Brand Name !

 

[Sad Sam Jones]

My personal best on the first one today! A score of 14. Once I finally stopped outsmarting myself by trying to get too obscure and got my first 9/9 last week, I'm starting to hit my stride. I assume I would have scored better on this one by picking Danys Baez for the Rays/O's and Gregg Olson for the O's All-Star, but I knew my score was going to be really good, so I had to get those picks right.

Spoiler

 

[edoug]

My personal best on the first one today! A score of 14. Once I finally stopped outsmarting myself by trying to get too obscure and got my first 9/9 last week, I'm starting to hit my stride. I assume I would have scored better on this one by picking Danys Baez for the Rays/O's and Gregg Olson for the O's All-Star, but I knew my score was going to be really good, so I had to get those picks right.

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View attachment 67304

You nailed it. Great job. Can you be Satisfied Sam Jones for today?

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Thought I'd have a couple more most common nailed on this one. Oh well.

Spoiler

 

[Deweys New Stance]

Ugh, back to Marlins and DBacks…

 

[SoxJox]

9/9 w/ rarity score = 142. Went with some pretty obvious ones today. I was particularly happy with the lower right corner.

Spoiler

 

[glennhoffmania]

My best score so far. 115

Spoiler: Spoiler

 

[mikeford]

Trying to do the reverse Brand Name today and get the most common answer for every square and getting completely stonewalled on Miami/Seattle because I guarantee the most common answer is also the guy I used for Seattle ROY

 

[glennhoffmania]

9/9 w/ rarity score = 142. Went with some pretty obvious ones today. I was particularly happy with the lower right corner.

Spoiler

View attachment 67320

It's funny how my brain just cramps up when I'm trying to do these. I totally forgot about your middle square answer playing for the other team.

 

[Scott Cooper's Grand Slam]

Millhouse remembers Esteban Yan.

And Alf. He's back! In pog form.

Edited to add: Good pull, JMOH. That's exactly where I remembered Esteban Yan from.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

And Alf. He's back! In pog form.

Edited to add: Good pull, JMOH. That's exactly where I remembered Esteban Yan from.

That was such a random exchange that I don't think I'll ever forget it. And the Nelson Muntz/Billy Crystal joke is solid too.

 

[moretsyndrome]

9/9 w/ rarity score = 142. Went with some pretty obvious ones today. I was particularly happy with the lower right corner.

Spoiler: Me too!

Couldn’t type his name in there fast enough.

 

[RG33]

That was my reaction when it wouldn't accept Bob Feller 3000K with Indians. What do you mean Feller didn't make it - he started at 19!!

I actually did BOTH of these and couldn’t believe either…!

 

[SoxJox]

It's funny how my brain just cramps up when I'm trying to do these. I totally forgot about your middle square answer playing for the other team.

And those ungrateful Mariners letting him go in free agency after his first sub-.300 season, and after having led not just the AL, but MLB in hits to win ROY in 2001, and for 7 of his 11 years there. The only other ROYs to lead the majors in hits were: Harvey Kuenn (209 in 1953), Tony Oliva (219 in 1964), and Nomar Garciaparra (209 in 1997). But they did bring him back his final 2 seasons to collect splinters...er, serve as a special assistant in the front office.

 

[Big Papa Smurph]

Anybody else playing the Immaculate Grid game? I figured people on SOSH who don't know about the it might enjoy. It's a been a game on twitter for a few weeks, but Baseball Reference recently purchased it. You can play once a day and it refreshes at midnight. You pick players who fit in the proper squares in the grid. Each player has a a rarity score - for example, when picking a player who played for the Mariners and D-Backs, Randy Johnson would have a higher number than Ketel Marte; you want a lower rarity score. But sometimes the challenge is just getting all 9 squares.
https://www.immaculategrid.com/

Backstory and anecdotes about players playing the game.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/07/11/immaculate-grid-origin-story

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

And those ungrateful Mariners letting him go in free agency after his first sub-.300 season, and after having led not just the AL, but MLB in hits to win ROY in 2001, and for 7 of his 11 years there. The only other ROYs to lead the majors in hits were: Harvey Kuenn (209 in 1953), Tony Oliva (219 in 1964), and Nomar Garciaparra (209 in 1997)

They didn't let him go in free agency. They traded him mid-season. To the fucking Yankees. Which, BTW, I somehow have no recollection of. Ichiro Suzuki played 354 games for the Yankees over 2.5 years and I don't remember that at all. If I had to answer one question to save my own life and it was "did Ichiro ever play for the Yankees?" I would be a dead man.

 

[Trapaholic]

Love playing that over coffee in the morning. I do "cheat" and look at B Ref when I am stumped. Recently, I have found that I am pretty good at getting the players that have played for both teams, but sometimes the outer column with the awards or counting stats can throw me for a loop.

 

[loshjott]

9/9 w/ rarity score = 142. Went with some pretty obvious ones today. I was particularly happy with the lower right corner.

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View attachment 67320

Surprised he only got 4%. I guess everyone isn't an old Red Sox fan.

 

[ThePrideofShiner]

They didn't let him go in free agency. They traded him mid-season. To the fucking Yankees. Which, BTW, I somehow have no recollection of. Ichiro Suzuki played 354 games for the Yankees over 2.5 years and I don't remember that at all. If I had to answer one question to save my own life and it was "did Ichiro ever play for the Yankees?" I would be a dead man.

Even more crazy is it happened when the Yankees were in town. It was surreal watching him run out of the Yankees dugout. He was actually pretty good for them.

 

[Curt S Loew]

They didn't let him go in free agency. They traded him mid-season. To the fucking Yankees. Which, BTW, I somehow have no recollection of. Ichiro Suzuki played 354 games for the Yankees over 2.5 years and I don't remember that at all. If I had to answer one question to save my own life and it was "did Ichiro ever play for the Yankees?" I would be a dead man.

I didn't remember it until I just read this. Now I remember all about it.

 

[RedOctober3829]

I love it as well. Really fun way to kill time or start the day.

 

[Kliq]

FYI; it's already being discussed here: https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/immaculate-grid-show-off-your-useless-baseball-depth-knowledge.39792/page-9#post-5646580

 

[LogansDad]

FYI; it's already being discussed here: https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/immaculate-grid-show-off-your-useless-baseball-depth-knowledge.39792/page-9#post-5646580

Lurkers can't get into P&G.

That said, I suck at this. To the point that you guys should probably just revoke my posting privileges.

 

[SoxJox]

They didn't let him go in free agency. They traded him mid-season. To the fucking Yankees. Which, BTW, I somehow have no recollection of. Ichiro Suzuki played 354 games for the Yankees over 2.5 years and I don't remember that at all. If I had to answer one question to save my own life and it was "did Ichiro ever play for the Yankees?" I would be a dead man.

From BaseballRef.. You are correct. I forgot about that mid-season trade. I guess they thought at age 38 it was time to cut bait. But he went on to play another 6 very good seasons before taking the front office position.

Seattle didn't get much in return. Farquhar was with them for 3 years as a mid-inning reliever. Mitchel never pitched a single inning for the Mariners.

 

[jmcc5400]

They didn't let him go in free agency. They traded him mid-season. To the fucking Yankees. Which, BTW, I somehow have no recollection of. Ichiro Suzuki played 354 games for the Yankees over 2.5 years and I don't remember that at all. If I had to answer one question to save my own life and it was "did Ichiro ever play for the Yankees?" I would be a dead man.

Along a similar vein, that the most popular choice recently for a White Sox/Marlin was

Spoiler

Mark Buehrle

absolutely blew me away. I just assumed he retired a White Sox and he actually had a pretty good year in Miami before hanging it up.

 

[The Jogger]

I think of myself as someone who Knows My Shit, but I very seldom get all nine of these.

FWIW, the JM Baseball channel on YouTube does variations of this game, and others. RefGuess got me started.

Their higher/lower is pretty fun. I played along with batter strikeouts last night and got housed. So it goes.

 

[Max Power]

I can tear through these if they're AL teams or even the NL East, but once you throw up the Rockies, DBacks, or Reds, I'm screwed. Also, I apparently have never paid the slightest attention to Rookie of the Year Awards.

I like that they're doing a BB Ref integration and showing all the possible answers for each box. Now I can see how many obvious choices I've missed.

 

[moondog80]

Spoiler: SPOILER

Used Edwin Jackson for Marlins/White Sox, which kind of felt like cheating.

 

[AlNipper49]

I can tear through these if they're AL teams or even the NL East, but once you throw up the Rockies, DBacks, or Reds, I'm screwed. Also, I apparently have never paid the slightest attention to Rookie of the Year Awards.

I like that they're doing a BB Ref integration and showing all the possible answers for each box. Now I can see how many obvious choices I've missed.

Well ‘they’ are now actually BBRef. BBRef bought the code from the kid who developed it.

It’s a great fit!

 

[ngruz25]

Anyone just get totally flummoxed when they miss a square? I totally thought Griffey won ROY, but he lost to the immortal Gregg Olson and old friend Tom Gordon. How bizarre.

 

[CoolPapaBellhorn]

This game is pure crack. Usually the stats/awards throw me for the highest percentages, but today it was the Mariners column.

Spoiler

 

[Bergs]

6 out of 9 on my first go of it (no cheating). I may be hooked.

 

[cannonball 1729]

Along a similar vein, that the most popular choice recently for a White Sox/Marlin was

Spoiler

Mark Buehrle

absolutely blew me away. I just assumed he retired a White Sox and he actually had a pretty good year in Miami before hanging it up.

Ohhh - that was the year that the Marlins opened a new stadium and went out and bought a bunch of free agents to show Miami that they were totally serious about having a real payroll. Then, after one year of having high-priced free agents on the team, the Marlins decided they were just kidding about the whole payroll thing and traded half of the team away, mostly to Toronto. If I recall correctly,

Spoiler

Buehrle

had to live by himself after being traded from Miami to Toronto because he had a rescue pit bull and pit bulls are illegal in Ontario, so he had the family stay with their dogs while he went to go pitch.

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

Time to get @Brand Name in here to show us what’s up. I’m terrible at this.

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

Love playing that over coffee in the morning. I do "cheat" and look at B Ref when I am stumped. Recently, I have found that I am pretty good at getting the players that have played for both teams, but sometimes the outer column with the awards or counting stats can throw me for a loop.

I'm only good at the stats and awards, and do terribly with the teams spots unless the sox or yanks are in play. And I struggle with many of the logos too.

 

[LogansDad]

Time to get @Brand Name in here to show us what’s up. I’m terrible at this.

She posts on Twitter every day. You don't want to know how good she is.

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

She posts on Twitter every day. You don't want to know how good she is.

Oh, I know how good she is. She was posting in the P&G thread.

 

[jmcc5400]

Ohhh - that was the year that the Marlins opened a new stadium and went out and bought a bunch of free agents to show Miami that they were totally serious about having a real payroll. Then, after one year of having high-priced free agents on the team, the Marlins decided they were just kidding about the whole payroll thing and traded half of the team away, mostly to Toronto. If I recall correctly,

Spoiler

Buehrle

had to live by himself after being traded from Miami to Toronto because he had a rescue pit bull and pit bulls are illegal in Ontario, so he had the family stay with their dogs while he went to go pitch.

Jesus, I didn't even remember that he had three pretty solid years with the Jays after Miami. Impressive career. 15 years in a row of at least 30 starts and 198.2 IP. Don't know when that's happening again. Sure looks like he could have hung on for another couple of $20M seasons had he wanted.

 

[Deweys New Stance]

Spoiler: SPOILER

Used Edwin Jackson for Marlins/White Sox, which kind of felt like cheating.

I used him for Chisox/DBacks because I would have had no idea otherwise.

Today was a today slog for me between the expansion teams and ROY. 8/9, rarity score 288, several popular guesses, screwed up the Chisox ROY when I went with Moncada instead of trusting my gut and going with Luis Aparicio

Spoiler

 

[YTF]

New to the game, are past grids available to play?

 

[AlNipper49]

I'm only good at the stats and awards, and do terribly with the teams spots unless the sox or yanks are in play. And I struggle with many of the logos too.

Like today - as soon as I saw the Marlins and D’backs I knew that I wasn’t looking at a 9 bagger.

 

[Bergs]

I think 9 alone is personally too easy. I make it a goal to not only get all 9 but include at least one deadball-era guy AND hope to get all sub-1.0% sets.

This is a @Marciano490 level humblebrag, right here, Jess. lol

 

[singaporesoxfan]

Here's a fun story on the spread of Immaculate Grid in MLB clubhouses, including a shoutout to @Brand Name for helping to create the rarity score.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/07/11/immaculate-grid-origin-story

 

[Tokyo Sox]

I can tear through these if they're AL teams or even the NL East, but once you throw up the Rockies, DBacks, or Reds, I'm screwed. Also, I apparently have never paid the slightest attention to Rookie of the Year Awards.

My order of operations is typically:
- Japanese players (includes several "rookies" of the year!)
- current or ex-Sox, whether there's a Red Sox square or not
- guys I have or recently had on fantasy teams
- any of the 8-10 team cheat code guys like Bartolo Colon, or the 2018 World Series MVP who helpfully played for every AL East team
- obvious HoF types
- baseball cards I had as a kid
- well, shit

I usually get 6 or 7 squares before arriving at the final step there, then it's just a question of whether I can pull a couple names out of my ass.

 

[AlNipper49]

My order of operations is typically:
- Japanese players (includes several "rookies" of the year!)
- current or ex-Sox, whether there's a Red Sox square or not
- guys I have or recently had on fantasy teams
- any of the 8-10 team cheat code guys like Bartolo Colon, or the 2018 World Series MVP who helpfully played for every AL East team
- obvious HoF types
- baseball cards I had as a kid
- well, shit

I usually get 6 or 7 squares before arriving at the final step there, then it's just a question of whether I can pull a couple names out of my ass.

I use Edwin Jackson every few days to be sure

 

[Tokyo Sox]

I use Edwin Jackson every few days to be sure

Yeah he's another good one. And he has a no-hitter, just in case!

 

[Tito's Pullover]

I didn't read the fine print and today went right for Fisk as RotY/White Sox. Didn't realize that awards/stats combos need to match the correct uniform for the year they won the award. Makes sense.