let’s play: Immaculate Grid!

9/9, 15

https://imgur.com/a/skrGlT0

Middle and right columns: 6/6, 5.75%. (Could have been better if I'd remembered Frank Duffy, the guy the Reds traded for Foster--had that committed to memory at one point.) Rays column: 3/3, 105%. Why would you ruin a good grid with Tampa Bay? So 9/9, 112--thermo and gyac, easy target.

https://i.postimg.cc/FRdmp7LD/grid.jpg

(Highlight today was turning the outfield column into a backdoor Jays column.)

9/9, 10--may drop into single digits. Started off 3/3, under 1%, but Jason Thompson killed that. This will never happen again: I've got two guys in the same row--Billy Martin and Dave Boswell--who got into a famous barroom brawl that cost one of them his job: https://twins-time.com/2022/02/billy-in-the-bar-august-1969/.

https://i.postimg.cc/FzzhfLX1/grid.jpg

Not to mention Giles and Briles side-by-side.

Better come back, maybe next week, 'cause you see I'm on a losing streak. Things to remember: Curt Blefary never played center field (Wednesday), Scipio Spinks was born in Chicago (today). Yesterday's, with the Marlins, was a lost cause.

9/9, 60. I was good through the first four, then Renteria, then Welch, then I just gave up and went for the 9.

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

Neither snow nor rain...9/9, 15. Could've used Stairs for the Perry box too, which has led me to the Kurt Bevacqua Rule: not Montreal, but the other three '69 teams. Took a guess on U.L. Washington, who I figured must have spelled off Brett occasionally. He did--exactly once. (Didn't he always have a toothpick in his mouth?)

https://i.postimg.cc/G3BMggW1/grid.jpg

Yes, he did (the toothpick). And he was on first when Brett hit the pine tar HR.

Periodically returned to this through the day, knowing full well I had nothing for Arizona.

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

Was pretty good through the first seven, with an auto-fill-assisted guess on Miguel Dilone. I remembered Mark Reynolds from yesterday's strikeouts/power discussion. But the famous-again Ron Leflore still had me over 30%, so I threw in the towel with Schilling and Carroll. Tony Womack crossed my mind at one point, but forgot him by the time I finished.

So one of those grids: 9/9, 112.

Colourful curse words: 8/9, 106:

https://i.postimg.cc/8CNd9Xjq/grid.jpg

People I thought of for lifetime White Sox box: Minnie Minoso, Eddie Cicotte, Richard Dotson, Jason Bere, Al Lopez, none of whom would have been right--Al Lopez didn't even play for the Chicago (but managed them for 12 years). Who I guessed: Chico Carrasquel, who was there six out of 10 seasons. Who I should have guessed: Luke Appling or Red Faber. Who I could have guessed if I paid a lot more attention to Jays' games: Nick Nastrini, who's had three lifetime starts for the White Sox and got hammered by Toronto the other night.

Old Nick would have been 0.9%.

I don’t understand what’s going on with the no hitter cat. It’s paired with three different teams and the rules say that the no hitter has to happen with that team… when I was done (7/9) the number stated in the results screen was just over 2x the number that the bb ref page is giving me.

Not sure what you mean by "the number"...I had two days in a row where one box kept me from scoring under 10%, then today was a wipeout.

Number = number of guys who pitched a no-hitter for that team? (It is team-specific, you're right.)

Ya. That number.

It was higher than the actual amount should have been in the summary.

I think I figured out what was happening. The grid summary includes everyone ever involved with a no hitter - but when you click through to the BBref page, it only lists the guys who threw full games.

That'd be it, yeah. I'm not good on no-hitters. The ones I remember tend to be the famous ones--when I re-tried today's on a different browser, I typed in Dock Ellis for the Pirates--56%!.

9/9, 15.

https://i.postimg.cc/J4J9hYzC/grid.jpg

That's about the best I can do with Silver Slugger on there--don't think I could have got it under 10.

I mean, I'm surprised Dave Stapleton isn't under 0.1%--he'll definitely be my pick next time one-team-only turns up for the Red Sox.

Did this this morning but had to head out for the day--9/9, 9. Twice I got some auto-fill help: 1) couldn't remember Shin-Soo Choo's name, just the bizarre play in 2015 right before the bat flip. Tried three or four different things till I was fairly confident I had the right guy; 2) I knew who I wanted there, but when I started to type in Rick Helling for the Rangers' 10-game winner, Rick Honeycutt popped up at the top of the list. Figured he was an even better bet for a low rarity, so I went with him--a little cheap, I'll concede. (More likely, they're both about the same for rarity.)

https://i.postimg.cc/tgPY7npj/grid.jpg

Science fiction: in '83, Honeycutt's 2.42 led the A.L. in ERA; he struck out 56 batters in 175 IP. (His FIP was 3.52.)

9/9, 59. Easy day for a 9, but a low rarity requires threading the needle on those first two columns--probably Zito for A's Cy Young, and Jon Lester for their 2000 K.

https://i.postimg.cc/VvjtCT94/grid.jpg

I would like to register my vehement disagreement with R.A. Dickey not being 6.0 WAR the year he won the Cy Young (5.7).

As well as I can do with GG involved--9/9, 30. I thought Brett would do better, reasoning that people would use him for the middle column; we read left to right, so maybe if the columns had been reversed. Ray Burris immediately popped into my head this morning--no idea why.

https://i.postimg.cc/rpB0HfTQ/grid.jpg

8/9, 105. Second or third Saturday in a row I've flubbed an easy one (today's was pretty much all my strongest categories)--forgot how often Yastrzemski walked; never more than 191 hits, not even in '67 or '70. Just barely over 2% for seven of these.

https://i.postimg.cc/Kj9200dQ/grid.jpg

Ah! I managed to best you today! 8/9 104.
Came to post this one because, assuming I got under 5% with that last answer, it would have been my personal best score without that wrong guess.

https://postimg.cc/fkGjcrMF
I thought for sure Steve Garvey had over 300 HRs (to go with 200 hit season), but he fell short by like 28, the fucking bum!

I get caught on that kind of stuff all the time. Garvey's solid on 200 hits and 100 RBIs at the seasonal level.

Harry Heilmann fan club in session.

THE MAN WAS A GOLDEN GOD!

8/9, 104--yesterday once more. I'm not great on ROYs, so I set out with the intention of just getting a 9 and not fussing over rarity. But I started off with four under 1%, so that changed. Thought about Al Bumbry for ROY/RF, but wasn't 100% sure of the award or the position so initially passed; then I couldn't remember which Cub it was who won in '89, Jerome Walton or Dwight Smith (it was Walton--and he played center so wouldn't have worked anyway). I ended up going with Jackie Jensen, remembering that he won an award and assuming he was forgotten enough that it must have been ROY. No--MVP in '58.

https://i.postimg.cc/N05NzWvD/grid.jpg

ha! we're Arky Vaughn and Alfredo Griffin twins!

i managed to tie my best score of 9. Regret going with a more obvious choice for HOF/ROY at the onset.

https://postimg.cc/Cdn9J793

Nice! I've never heard of your middle square...which tells you how weak I am on ROYs. (Nixon's in his grave applauding our Arky Vaughn fandom--which I won't bother hiding now.)

Arrrgh--sorry prospective players, you hid that and I was looking at the unhidden post. As Pavement once said, NO ARKY VAUGHN!

I only remember him because his time on the jays when he jumped OVER a catcher to score a run

Arky had a great couple of years with the Jays. (Yeah, except for Bench, you had a real shot at 3 or 4%).

Was of course referring to my middle square

9/9, 36. All I could think of for Phillies/Guardians was Cliff Lee and Carlton; don't know why I thought Lee would be lower.

https://i.postimg.cc/QN9DwrQN/grid.jpg

9/9, 23. Not overly difficult, but got me thinking about stuff: 1) one of the rare times I was happy about a higher rarity--didn't expect Jim Abbott to be at 7%, but glad people still remember him; 2) if your default is the '70s like me, thinking of a lifetime Oakland player is hard thanks to Charlie Finley--if I hadn't remembered Washington, not sure if I would have come up with somebody there; 3) thought of a few possibilities for the Angels' 100-run guy before settling on Erstad. Most would have been right--Bobby Bonds, Tim Salmon, Carny Lansford, Troy Glaus--and a couple wouldn't have been: Grich and Fregosi. Will try to remember Brian Downing for next time. I figured Erstad's 240 hits were a sure thing. No one will have 240 hits and score fewer than 100 runs until Luis Arraez does it.

https://i.postimg.cc/1XDKX0Sc/grid.jpg

9/9, 87. Otis Nixon was my first guess, which immediately had me enter two other SB boxes I knew would be high. At that point my rarity was so high, I took some chances on the last few boxes I might not have otherwise.

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

9/9, 18. New rule today, the David Wells Rule: if you want a low rarity score, avoid oversized personalities.

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

8/9, 115. Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps--my baseball people love Ken Phelps. But turns out he never hit 30 HR, not for Seattle and not for anybody.

https://i.postimg.cc/0yctVzs8/grid.jpg

9/9, 26. Garry Templeton, my last guess, is up to 17%--he's been rediscovered 100% because of this game. I had an 'S'-guy shortcut (Cardinals, Padres, Giants, Mariners) but of course couldn't remember him: Brett Tomko. Will try to remember Rich Wilkins instead, who had a classic outlier season in '93 for the Cubs.

https://i.postimg.cc/8cM8GPjR/grid.jpg

how the fuck did dave kingman never get 100 RBIs for the Mets?! 7 fucking seasons with over 30 home runs and he's only gotten 100+ RBIs twice! also why was he on 4 different teams in 1977? what happened there bro?!

Kingman's stats were freakish so many different ways. Don't ever use him for WAR (career high, 4.1, under 20 for his career); he did knock in 100 for the Cubs and A's (once each), never scored 100. Buzza alerted me to his bizarre '77 season, but I tend to forget the two non-NY teams.

9/9, 48. 31% of that is for the D-backs row, but that might actually be the lowest I've ever had for Arizona/Colorado/Miami/Tampa Bay.

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

9/9, 25. 1970 AL batting crown: Alex Johnson, .32899; Yaz, .32862.

https://i.postimg.cc/D0CPdQkh/grid.jpg

9/9, 25. Stayed under 10% for the first seven, then gave in on Kingman and Palmeiro. Burt Hooton: when I was 12, I was able to throw a variation on the knuckle-curve (which probably still exists under some other name).

https://i.postimg.cc/0jbk7LVg/grid.jpg