let’s play: Immaculate Grid!

9/9, 16. So-so; pretty wide open. Nothing over 4%, but only two under 1%, and one of those is a cheat. I should remember more of the '93 Phillies than I do because of that year's wild WS. Mickey Morandini, Kim "Batty" Batiste, Kevin Stocker, Tommy Greene, Ben Rivera, Wes Chamberlain--I've never used any of them.

https://i.postimg.cc/WzJRfxmv/grid.jpg

9/9, 45. Wide open but tricky. I had good answers for the first seven--about 10%--leaving 300 saves/HOF and, the biggest problem, 300 saves/10 wins. How to avoid Eckersley for the latter? I was pretty sure Gossage had done it, but I also wanted to use him for 300 saves/HOF. I went with Hoffman for the HOF and Gossage for the 10 wins. Both were much higher than I expected: 11% for Gossage (should have went with Lee Smith), 24% for Hoffman. Turns out that 300 saves/10 wins (11 players) is actually more common than 300 saves/HOF (7 players). Other 300 saves/10 wins guys besides Gossage and Eckersley: Fingers, Rick Aguilera, Francisco Cordero, John Franco, Roberto Hernández, Doug Jones, Todd Jones, José Mesa, Joe Nathan. Closers winning 10 in a season is not quite the ancient history I thought it was.

That's a lot of frivolous thinking before 10:00 a.m.

https://i.postimg.cc/HLC7txmk/grid.jpg

8/8, 16%. I will now go about my day, whispering a mantra of "A's/Marlins, A's/Marlins" under my breath until I manage to come up with something that seems even halfway reasonable.

Put myself out of my misery early--8/9, 115. Gave Rickey Henderson a shot--no. Forgot about Piazza's stopover there (five games), and didn't know Raines played his final season in Miami. Of course thought about trying Octavio Dotel, who wouldn't have worked--but Rodney would have.

https://i.postimg.cc/G3Mhgn1Z/grid.jpg

9/9, 20

Mets so i had to do it, got burned by piazza, i know marlins/piazza is a cheat code but 13%? jeez... Also Conine was on the Mets for like a blink of an eye 20 years ago, weird to see it 3% instead of .3%. just glad to be back in the ken brett business tbh

https://imgur.com/a/IoFAkFv

9/9, 12(!)
https://i.postimg.cc/bwRHtdTy/IMG-9205.jpg

The Gardner pick was a one in a million, I knew he played the outfield but took a pure guess at it & he has literally ONE career appearance there. He was the other corner!

Cody Ross was famously a blocking waver claim for the Giants from the Marlins and he finished his career in Oakland.

“Whatever happened to clutch WS double-play turner Joe Panik?” I wondered a while back. Thankfully I knew!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqJYVcTwCF4

kudos, my super power is insanely specific to 70s era crap mets but knowing marginal contemp players at an in-the-weeds level can match that for sure. interesting to see someone come in from such an outsider base level and see where their strengths are.

as a young person i could absorb and retain insane levels of info on the most forgettable players, and my son has the same level of retention - i'm constantly asking him to explain players that i am not familiar with, it's definitely tied to age. after going in on the grid for a few weeks i started to recall long forgotten names, but you probably have that same level of remembering today players even though you might not be a kid, it's all new to you. i just like reliving my youth via this game, the 70s were a great period in mlb and i like stepping back there.

I have very specific knowledge but I don’t think I can approach anyone on ILBB on breadth yet. Knowing the dynasty Giants teams is great because they had a lot of marginal bit part players that moved around a lot, I’m always reading back and watching old series so trying to accumulate knowledge but I’ll never have the grown-up-with-it base that most of you have. I do what I can, basically!

i approach the grid similar to how i used to do the nytimes crossword circa 30-35 yers ago - good base knowledge but then pick out the cheat codes, there's like 1-2 dozen old reliables that get you to the promised land even though they may not be your part of your core knowledge.

Speaking of which, here's one you both might find useful (I have four or five): Only two guys have played for all four '61/62 expansion teams (Angels, Senators/Rangers, Mets, Astros): one exceedingly famous player to avoid, Nolan Ryan, but also Darren Oliver.

9/9, 8 today. I thought I'd be even lower: Molitor and Boyer are 5% between them right now. (May go lower.) There are 269 correct answers for 1B/30-SB; I shouldn't be naming a HOF'er. And Mort Cooper (who I think I knew) or Marty Marion (who I didn't) would have been better for Cards MVP. But I did remember Phil Cavarretta from a mistake two or three weeks ago.

https://i.postimg.cc/4d8n6CYS/grid.jpg

Baylor is generally remembered as a big, slow-moving RBI guy; before he turned 30, though, he stole 20+ eight years in a row, with a high of 52 on the '76 A's (who stole *341* as a team).

9/9, 6

https://imgur.com/a/TKbaxNN

Has been purchased (or licensed) by mlb.com. They were linking to Sporacle for a while (and may still be) in what seemed like an effort to compete, but I guess it wasn't working.

Still doing this godforsaken thing. Had only one 9 since Monday--that Colorado grid, so rarity wasn't great.

8/9, 103 today. Almost ran the table: 7/7, 1.28%, 200 wins/Tigers and 200 wins/GG left. I didn't want to use Bunning for the Tigers, and I wanted to avoid Maddux/Gibson/Kaat for the other. So I got the idea to try Bunning for Tigers/GG--struck me as a guy who must have won at least one. Nope. Only 14 correct answers, two of which, Niekro and Hershiser, had crossed my mind.

https://i.postimg.cc/sgzKkTKJ/grid.jpg

To paraphrase Snoop Dogg, I use Bobo Newsom like every single day now. I've memorized six of his nine teams--seven now, because I could have used him for Tigers/200 wins.

9/9, 51. Two pretty good rows; Cubs, no. I'd wonder if all those Holtzman points directly resulted from people reading obituaries the other day, except I can answer my own question: that's why I remembered he threw a couple of no-hitters. Catfish Hunter is primarily famous for two things on the field: winning 20 games so many times and pitching a perfect game. So of course he's 0.7% for 20 wins/no-hitter.

https://i.postimg.cc/xjGRnsCm/grid.jpg

The only kind of 9 I can get for a grid with one of the final four (Rays): 122 rarity.

https://i.postimg.cc/d13fj97J/grid.jpg

I'm surprised Magglio Ordóñez reliably scores under 5%. I know he played in the PED era, but he had some huge years, especially 2007 (for the Tigers): 54 doubles, 139 RBI, .363, MVP runner-up. He seems somewhat forgotten, at least in this context. Quite a post-retirement career! "In August 2013, Ordóñez announced that he would run for the office of mayor in the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality in Venezuela, on the ticket of the late Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela. It was announced on December 9, 2013 that he had been elected Mayor."

Had a pretty good one going today--8/8, 17%--but tried Hal Trotsky for the Guardians-only box; nope, two years with the White Sox at the tail end of his career. I thought of Joe Charboneau but decided nah, no chance--so of course he would have worked. Another possibility I'd completely forgotten from my 1970 Zander Hollander guide: Roy Foster, runner-up for AL ROY in 1970, out of the league after three seasons.

9/9, 19. By the time I got to Astros/Giants, I was going to be over 10% no matter what, so I quickly typed in Morgan's name. I don't often come up with first-time answers that please me anymore--I usually settle for proven tricks and mnemonics--but I had one today: Ollie Brown, who again goes back to my 1970 Zander Hollander guide. Unless I'm forgetting someone, he was basically the only Padre other than Nate Colbert worth a damn back then (Randy Jones not there yet).

https://i.postimg.cc/63yc80cQ/grid.jpg

9/9, 4, I think tied for best-ever (also probably the easiest grid ever, I know). I wanted all nine to be under 1%, and looking at the two that aren't, I think there's still a chance. (No one ever used to guess Martin Dihigo.) The only two I hesitated on were Bottomley for the HOF and Norm Cash--I knew his '61 season, in the shadow of Maris and Mantle, was huge, but wasn't completely sure that he made it to 40 HR.

https://i.postimg.cc/9M34nrmM/grid.jpg

I got 12% today. Always love coming here and getting the wind taken out my my sails! Lol.

Trust me, whenever I post a really low score, buzzq parachutes in with 1% less.

buzza...

Oh I’m aware!

Today's grid is funny, based on a distinction even GG voters never used to make. No way I'm getting 9 unless I go for really obvious answers, and probably not even then. And I can only use César Tovar once.

8/8, 5%, thought about Junior Felix for Angels CF, balked, tried Ken Henderson--didn't even play for the Angels. Felix would have worked.

https://i.postimg.cc/cJkRwWMd/grid.jpg

Emailed a guy named Aidan today, who I've contacted before about category ideas for IG. On the 10,000 to 1 chance this actually happens, remember, it was my idea.

Aidan -- Hear me out...

What about an Immaculate Grid tournament? You have an entry fee, pick a city, find a venue, run a tournament. You charge like $50 to enter, and you give back half what you collect in prize money (making sure you have enough left for expenses). If you're looking to make money, adjust accordingly.

I really think you'd draw people in if the prize money made it worthwhile. Think of how many people enter Scrabble tournaments. Everything's the same as the daily grid, with a random mix of categories. You set up a bracket with groups of 4--64 players, 128, etc. Ties are broken by rarity (presumably, most everyone's getting 9/9s). You have something set up to prevent cheating.

I'm in Canada, but if it were close enough, I'd probably give it a go. There's a guy I know through a message board who's much--*much*--better than I am, and I expect there are lots of people like him who'd enter.

Or you could set something up online...but the cheating part of it then becomes more of a challenge, I'm guessing.

Hold off on that plane ticket--they politely passed on my idea. ("I don't know if that's something we're practically looking to do right now.") I'm picturing two guys in a room, one says "Him again" as he opens my email, the other makes some kind of a looney-tunes gesture.

9/9, 22 for today's. Al Bumbry 11%? Give me a break!

https://i.postimg.cc/SQctkBjH/grid.jpg

9/9, 21

https://imgur.com/a/k8YbW2S

I'm with you on Bumbry, brother, he is squarely in my 70s memory-holed players that i consistently use to score <2%. I knew I'd take a slight hit on Gomez given the more recent time frame, just glad my Pete Gray cheat code is still working. And yes, i vividly remember some insane extra inning affair where the Mets had to use Orosco in the OF, specifics not so much but him standing out there very much so, of course youtube comes thru, Carter playing 3rd as an extra treat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UhfabRmtJw

oh man i forgot the brawl which put the mets short-handed after ejections, 86 team was so chaotic lmao ray knight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2CwLl-zoNU

Dumb mistake today--Billy Williams didn't win the MVP in '72, even though he almost won a Triple Crown--but I suddenly have an overwhelming desire to revisit yesterday's updated 9/9, 20.

https://i.postimg.cc/4yMW33Sr/grid.jpg

9/9, 9--The Herman Cain Rule. Tony Gwynn for HOF/10-HR not as clever as I thought.

https://i.postimg.cc/T3BhHV72/grid.jpg

9/9, 27. I really got dinged for Bumgarner. Thought about trying Russell Martin for that box--I knew he pitched a couple of perfect innings but wasn't sure about the Silver Slugger. Should have gone with him.

https://i.postimg.cc/sfWN0P5S/grid.jpg

9/9, 6

https://imgur.com/a/zucyD0T

I checked my grid right after you posted, and I'd dropped all the way from 27 to 5. I was surprised too--just the way it goes.

9/9, 17. The 11% for the D-Backs row has to be a record for me when it comes to Arizona/Colorado/Miami/Tampa Bay. Remembered Aaron Hill by scanning all the Hills on auto-fill, got a break on Steve Finley (likely because of Matt Williams), and at the last second remembered Reggie Sanders from all the times I've looked over the 2001 Arizona BRef page trying to remember somebody, anybody--had no idea if he'd managed 30 HR.

https://i.postimg.cc/d3WkrjsQ/grid.jpg

9/9, 15

https://imgur.com/a/CEDtYEz

9/9, 24. Lots of better choices than Garret Anderson--Vada Pinson, Bill Buckner, Willie Davis, Torii Hunter, Chili Davis, Gary Gaetti, Bert Campaneris--but I thought he'd be lower, so just typed him in right away.

https://i.postimg.cc/YqQntPjq/grid.jpg

9/9, 7

https://imgur.com/a/mQm48Vo

9/9, 22. Heading out for the day--crossing over into Michigan, appropriately enough--so I settled for a few easy ones. I think Carl Furillo was the least celebrated core Boy of Summer--him or Junior Gilliam.

https://i.postimg.cc/8PkCyZD4/grid.jpg

you guys have me glory chasing - which leads to wrong guesses. but for the first time in a while i got two back-to-back. but both in the low 50s.

I messed up on the weekend by assuming Eddie Collins as a sure thing for A's/200-hits, but he only did it with the White Sox.

Didn’t even know he was on the As! Came in handy for me when I needed him for the Sox tho.
Usually the black and white guys are easy low scores - but was surprised Al Simmons was 11% for the A’s.

9/9, 9

https://imgur.com/a/eTuKw4f

Here's some low-hanging fruit for you to beat, thermo: 9/9, 45. I'm retiring my Matt Stairs cheat--all four '69 expansion teams--which others have evidently started using too. The best part of today's is my Red Sox row: Flash Gordon, Smokey Joe, and El Tiante--my greatest nickname row ever.

https://i.postimg.cc/KYmvywpt/grid.jpg

9/9, 15. Amusing that Zolio Versalles is my most common answer today--in the first few months of this game, he was guaranteed to be under 1%.

https://i.postimg.cc/MGnmG5bT/grid.jpg

Why I know him (possibly my first baseball book as a kid):

https://i.postimg.cc/NjzRZTqw/book.jpg

Ha! Even in the low hanging fruit I got one wrong. Did use Smokey Joe (I only know him because of a dead ball era sim I did of the BoSox in OOTP). also took advantage of Stairs.

“In case of emergency use Stairs” as the tshirts used to say