All Things Immaculate Grid-related (MLB, NBA, NFL)

[Ope3]

Twins Alert on the Grid. Only Twig enters my New Player domain, as a New York Giant and Washington Senator.



Slugger Roy Seivers was also a Senator.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Twins Alert on the Grid. Only Twig enters my New Player domain, as a New York Giant and Washington Senator.

View attachment 43067

Slugger Roy Seivers was also a Senator.

Amazingly, the Glad Man was my only newbie yesterday, hard to believe I hadn’t used him already.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Grid awareness alert-Calvin Murray, Kyler’s uncle, played MLB for Giants, Rangers (of course), and Cubs. While he did nothing of note in his MLB career, he was a 1st round selection of both the Giants and Cleveland. (credit to Tommy Kramer’s Facebook account for this info)

 

[Ope3]

Twins Alert on the Grid. On the Twins 2026 Season thread a few of us went down a rabbit hole regarding a cool Harmon Killebrew photo, just 3 Days ahead of Opening Day.

Through process of elimination, AI & Google research, we have landed on the image being from the Twins 1961 Inaugural Season in Minnesota. It looks like it is back in DC against the New Senators in Griffith Stadium.

Of course that required some validation in Baseball Reference for the '61 Twins and Senators, row Rangers.

With that info at hand it helped out finding a pair of New Players on the Shortstop Column. Welcome original Twin, José Valdivielso. Also aboard, Bob Johnson of the Senators/Rangers.



Rich Chiles is not New, but I wanted to salute nonetheless. Somewhere out there is a Twins Camera Day 1977 photo, suitable for framing, of Chiles and a young Ope3.

 

[Ope3]

My Rarity took a hit today, but I had a really stunning New Player added today, Jason Giambi. I used him mostly because I was tired of plugging in Walt Weis in an A''s/Rockies combo.

A more moderate surprise was DJ LeMahieu. 3X All Star. Made it as both an Rockie and a Yankee.

 

[Ope3]

Baseball Reference is sleeping in this morning. I tried plugging in Luis Arraéz in the Giants/2B Box based on his Opening Day appearance last night against the Yankees.

Apparently the Grid did not realize the contract was on Netflix.

 

[Ope3]

With a "Played OF" category it was a good day to run the table for New Players on that column.

Big assist from @coolhandgopher on calling out Calvin Murray, uncle for a recent Vikings acquisition.

Twins opening with the O's helped me out with landing Colton Cowser.

Center Square Rudy was just one of the early 80s White Sox Laws.



What floored me was I had not used Bobby Thigpen yet. New Player # 1899 for me.

Worth the Rarity hit.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Of the seven newly rostered Twins, I have already used Josh Bell and Taylor Rodger’s on the grid, so that leaves Banda, Caratini, Kent, Orze, and Gray to add to the unique player mix. That number’s now at 4, as Caratini was put to use today.

 

[coolhandgopher]

With a "Played OF" category it was a good day to run the table for New Players on that column.

Big assist from @coolhandgopher on calling out Calvin Murray, uncle for a recent Vikings acquisition.

Twins opening with the O's helped me out with landing Colton Cowser.

Center Square Rudy was just one of the early 80s White Sox Laws.

View attachment 43337

What floored me was I had not used Bobby Thigpen yet. New Player # 1899 for me.

Worth the Rarity hit.

While you used Cowser, it was the O’s Tyler O’Neill who was my unique outfielder put to the Grid, although he was also aided by his appearance with Team Canada in the WBC.

I also learned yesterday that the White Sox have three 30+ Save pitchers on their roster who had unremarkable stints with the Twins-Alex Colome, Addison Reed, and Liam Hendriks. (I used none of them, unfortunately)

 

[Ope3]

The #1900 New Player Honor belongs to former Twin Kennys Vargas. Fast followers are Victor Carartini (New Twin) & WBC Champion Wilson Contreras.




For Vargas, I actually intended to use him on a Grid a few weeks ago but was looking him up under "Kenny" instead of "Kennys" and not locating him. After a few seconds I punted and put someone else in.

I did circle back through and took note, Kennys was a 1 franchise player.

 

[Ope3]

Twins Alert on the Grid today. The only New Player for me on their line is Bobby Mitchell, the one position player in the 1982 HHH Dome Opener I had not used yet.



Mitchell got a lot of run on that woeful club, but he entered Opening Day as a late inning defensive replacement.

Seattle Mariners vs Minnesota Twins Box Score: April 6, 1982 | Baseball-Reference.com

Seattle Mariners beat Minnesota Twins (11-7). Apr 6, 1982, Attendance: 52279, Time of Game: 2:32. Visit Baseball-Reference.com for the complete box score, play-by-play, and win probability

www.baseball-reference.com

Clark Griffith I had used. I knew he was actually Cal's uncle who became his guardian. I did not realize he was never formally adopted, though he did take his surname. Looked it up last week with 1961 Twins coming back to Griffith Stadium photo discussion.

Former Twins First Base Coach Jerry White was the only other New Player for me.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Twins Alert on the Grid today. The only New Player for me on their line is Bobby Mitchell, the one position player in the 1982 HHH Dome Opener I had not used yet.

View attachment 43396

Mitchell got a lot of run on that woeful club, but he entered Opening Day as a late inning defensive replacement.

Seattle Mariners vs Minnesota Twins Box Score: April 6, 1982 | Baseball-Reference.com

Seattle Mariners beat Minnesota Twins (11-7). Apr 6, 1982, Attendance: 52279, Time of Game: 2:32. Visit Baseball-Reference.com for the complete box score, play-by-play, and win probability

www.baseball-reference.com

Clark Griffith I had used. I knew he was actually Cal's uncle who became his guardian. I did not realize he was never formally adopted, though he did take his surname. Looked it up last week with 1961 Twins coming back to Griffith Stadium photo discussion.

Former Twins First Base Coach Jerry White was the only other New Player for me.

I tapped into the deep well of mid-‘10s, replacement level outfielders to score two newbies in Shane Robinson (Angels) and Clete Thomas (CF). For the Cardinals, I tapped into this legend of the ‘83 Topps set who was probably the most pulled Twin for me from that set .

 

[Ope3]

I tapped into the deep well of mid-‘10s, replacement level outfielders to score two newbies in Shane Robinson (Angels) and Clete Thomas (CF). For the Cardinals, I tapped into this legend of the ‘83 Topps set who was probably the most pulled Twin for me from that set .

My guy Bobby was in that same set.

 

[coolhandgopher]

My guy Bobby was in that same set.

View attachment 43399

I have such a great deal of affection for those '82 Twins-it was the summer of my 10th birthday, I never saw so many games in person as that year, due to the ticket giveaways for Boy Scouts, school groups, etc. and in the midst of that miserable year, my boyish, optimistic, not yet ground down by MN sports self saw the seeds of what was to come in '87.

Now that I've used Little, as I review that year's roster, I think there's only 2-3 players I haven't used on the Grid: C Ray Smith and pitcher's Jack O'Connor and Don Cooper (yes, the longtime White Sox pitching coach).

Quick quiz (which can easily be found on Baseball Reference): This Twins player led the team in WAR that season, which was double of his next best WAR season in a long career. Who was that player?

 

[Ope3]

Quick quiz (which can easily be found on Baseball Reference): This Twins player led the team in WAR that season, which was double of his next best WAR season in a long career. Who was that player?

Originally I was going to guess Gary Ward, but since he was an All Star in 1983 I doubt in 1982 he doubled his WAR output.

That leaves Hrbek who was the Twins All Star in 1982, so I will ride with him.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Originally I was going to guess Gary Ward, but since he was an All Star in 1983 I doubt in 1982 he doubled his WAR output.

That leaves Hrbek who was the Twins All Star in 1982, so I will ride with him.

It’s actually Bruno, which really surprised me-Ward received MVP votes, Hrbek was the All Star and 2nd in ROY, with Gaetti finishing 5th and Brunansky nowhere to be found. In fact, he surpassed Ripken in WAR by a decent clip. As I recall from that season, he was criticized for not getting enough RBI’s. He was at 5.6 WAR that season, 2.8 for the next two, and only cracked 2 once more in his 14 year career. According to WAR, he peaked at age 21 on that 60-102 team, with his highest career OBP and OBS+, along with those 46 RBI’s

 

[Ope3]

It’s actually Bruno, which really surprised me-Ward received MVP votes, Hrbek was the All Star and 2nd in ROY, with Gaetti finishing 5th and Brunansky nowhere to be found. In fact, he surpassed Ripken in WAR by a decent clip. As I recall from that season, he was criticized for not getting enough RBI’s. He was at 5.6 WAR that season, 2.8 for the next two, and only cracked 2 once more in his 14 year career. According to WAR, he peaked at age 21 on that 60-102 team, with his highest career OBP and OBS+, along with those 46 RBI’s

That is crazy that Bruno could put up those stats and only have 46 RBIs. With that line-up though I would guess there was not a lot of traffic, but Hrbek managed to knock in 92.

I do look at 1982 fondly, especially knowing the core was able to complete or the AL West just 2 seasons later building up to the 1987 run.

About the only downside was the lack of AC in the HHH Dome. There was a game in June I remember going with couple of bus loads. It was ungodly hot and stuffy in there. I don't think I went to many or any games at the Hump that season after that sauna.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Ope, did you scoop up a unique player with a Royals pitcher from this past series? I didn’t from the series although Steve Farr did the trick from the’80s. I finally put your many references to Dan Smith/Rangers to use today. I also utilized Kyler Murray’s cousin today with the Giants-Rangers square.

 

[Ope3]

Nice you could use my former HS-VFW-Legion adversary, Dan Smith. At least I scraped 1 hit off him, a flair opposite RF single in 9th grade. My career BA against him though might be less than .100, includes the final out of a No Hitter.

For the same Rangers box I used journeyman Relief Pitcher from the late 80s to early 90s Mike Jeffcoat. He registered as a New Player for me.

Got a layup New Player with the Royals using yesterday's Starting Pitcher and '24 All Star, Cole Ragans. He did push my Total Rarity into double digits, but no worries.

 

[Ope3]

Twins Alert on the Grid today. Another big assist from @coolhandgopher for summarizing in the Twins Regular Season thread on new links, reducing the legwork on my end.

That yielded New Players Gary Sanchez & Danny Coulombe.

Another addition is Lewis Thorpe not to be confused with Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd)



Ozzie Virgil rounds out the 4 Newbie bounty for me.

Ken Brett could be used in any of the 4 Team only boxes.

 

[coolhandgopher]

I missed an obvious one yesterday-Tristan Gray, 2B for Rays. Would have given me a unique player; especially sad, since it was within the last week that I highlighted his past history before coming to the Twins. Oh well, I'm guessing the oppportunity to present itself again before too long.

For the previous day, I had a column of newbies for the Twins: Anthony Swarzak (Brewers), Jorge Alcala (BoSox) and Danny Santana (born outside of the US). I also sprinkled in Morneau (SS and foreign born) and Molitor (SS, Brewers) in my quest to have a Top 20 Twins board.

 

[Ope3]

Nelson Cruz hits triple digits for me today (Mariners/10 HRs). Welcome to the 100 Times used Club.

Feels like he could be used practically any day that is not infused with Pitching categories.

Rod Carew gets 0.02 Rarity for SS/10 HRs.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Twins alert today-went with Graig Nettles’ brother (Athletics), the reliever who nearly blew last night’s game (Dodgers), and Sweet Music.

 

[Ope3]

Twins alert today-went with Graig Nettles’ brother (Athletics), the reliever who nearly blew last night’s game (Dodgers), and Sweet Music.

For "reliever who nearly blew last night's game", that could apply to half the Twins bullpen.

 

[Ope3]

Twins alert today-went with Graig Nettles’ brother (Athletics), the reliever who nearly blew last night’s game (Dodgers), and Sweet Music.

My only New Guy was Home Opener Hero Tristan Gray. I thought Brock Stewart would qualify (even did a search under my Name in this Forum) but he's a repeat.



Looking at the Twins 20 Game Winner list, there isn't anyone I haven't used from the Minnesota era. Not many Senators either.

 

[Ope3]

Today's New Player Cheat Code was doing the Grid while watching MLB Network and noticing the Nats @ Brewers Pitching Matchup tonight.

Irvin vs Patrick

 

[coolhandgopher]

What I've learned recently through IG research:
* there are three Hal Smith's who have played MLB and all three played for the Pirates at separate times. Hal Smith (1955-64) hit a Game 7 home run prior to the heroics of Bill Mazeroski in 1960.
* if a square appears with the Reds and "played an infield position", consider Skeeter (Barnes), Scooter (Gennett), Junior (Kennedy), or Pokey (Reese).
* Mark Hamburger and Jake Burger have both played for the Rangers.
* There have been 5 Tommie's who have played MLB, four of whom debuted in either 1962 or '63. These four Tommies are finished their careers in consecutive years: 1970 (Sisk), 1971 (Aaron), 1972 (Reynolds), and 1973 (Agee).
* Nate Colbert, three time All-Star in the '70s, might be the losingest player of all-time. In 1004 games played with the Astros, Padres, Tigers, Expos and Athletics, in games he played, his team won 372 and lost 632 for a 37% winning percentage. In comparison to some historically moribund franchises, the T-Wolves, Clippers, Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals, NY Jets, and St. Louis Browns all hover in the 42-43% range.

 

[Ope3]

What I've learned recently through IG research:
* there are three Hal Smith's who have played MLB and all three played for the Pirates at separate times. Hal Smith (1955-64) hit a Game 7 home run prior to the heroics of Bill Mazeroski in 1960.
* if a square appears with the Reds and "played an infield position", consider Skeeter (Barnes), Scooter (Gennett), Junior (Kennedy), or Pokey (Reese).
* Mark Hamburger and Jake Burger have both played for the Rangers.
* There have been 5 Tommie's who have played MLB, four of whom debuted in either 1962 or '63. These four Tommies are finished their careers in consecutive years: 1970 (Sisk), 1971 (Aaron), 1972 (Reynolds), and 1973 (Agee).
* Nate Colbert, three time All-Star in the '70s, might be the losingest player of all-time. In 1004 games played with the Astros, Padres, Tigers, Expos and Athletics, in games he played, his team won 372 and lost 632 for a 37% winning percentage. In comparison to some historically moribund franchises, the T-Wolves, Clippers, Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals, NY Jets, and St. Louis Browns all hover in the 42-43% range.

Here is my odd research tale...

As part of my Tuesday Google Feed I was sent a sponsored article about Gus Weyhing who was a dominant pitcher in the 80s to early 90s.

Not the 80s - 90s of our lifetime though, the 19TH Century version.

Turns out Gus amassed a gaudy 264 Ws throughout many stops but is not in Cooperstown. Weyhing's production kind of fell of a cliff in 1893. That is when the National League implemented a rule change pushing the mound back a little more than 4 ft to the 60 ft 6 inches that is still the standard today.

I experienced similar issues back in 6th grade. No longer was a kid with not much velo but could throw strikes valued as a pitcher. It would come in handy later as Batting Practice fodder.

Gus Weyhing - Cooperstown Expert

Pitching at 50' from 1887-92, 264-game winner Gus Weyhing averaged 29.5 wins/season; from 1893-1901 at 60'6" he averaged under 11.

cooperstownexpert.com

I checked on the teams that Gus took the bump for and noted the ones that are not defunct. It took exactly 1 day to pay off for him to be added to my New Player roster as a Phillie with 200+ Wins.

Gus Weyhing Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Gus Weyhing. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

Lucky guess that Google/AI would know I was interested in that knowledge/clickbait.

-----
My other New Player is Brandon Valenzuela, with a memorable last name that I recalled from the recent Twins series with Toronto.

 

[coolhandgopher]

 

[Ope3]

View attachment 43714

Brian Dinkelman is a fan.

Both noted for the 1 franchise category.