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

It's a MN sports bonanza today-Twins, TWolves, Vikings are all on the board; pretty easy categories in baseball today, although the right fielders of the Arizona Diamondbacks conspired against me from earning an immaculate grid (seriously, Luis Gonzalez didn't play a single game in right field???)

I'll reveal my answers tomorrow-I'm not as good at being cryptic as Ope on our sports alums.
I tried Gonzalez too!

So not Immaculate, but my Twins line of Fred Manrique, Pedro Munoz, and Mike Lincoln was worth .34 combined. Happy with that.
 

I tried Gonzalez too!

So not Immaculate, but my Twins line of Fred Manrique, Pedro Munoz, and Mike Lincoln was worth .34 combined. Happy with that.
I am not sure what this says about me or MLB in general but for the Royals, I used guys that were part of their mid 70s run under Whitey Herzog, when they just couldn't get past the damn Yankees. I could have even used their backups.

Other than Greinke though, I couldn't use a current Royal that works even though I saw them play the Cubs at Wrigley this past summer.

No clue on a current Diamondback either, despite that they were just in the World Series.
 


I tried Gonzalez too!

So not Immaculate, but my Twins line of Fred Manrique, Pedro Munoz, and Mike Lincoln was worth .34 combined. Happy with that.
If it wasn't before, our similarities are getting eerie--in addition to sharing the Gonzalez miss, my Twins right fielder was Munoz. However, my overall Twins score was a bit higher than yours-.52 with Bernie Allen and Scott Klingenback rounding out the trio.

For the T-Wolves, I went with Antoine Walker and two original Wolfies-Scottie Brooks and Ty Corbin. Grand total of 3.4%

And for the Vikes, Leroy Hoard took 4% for the Cleveland match, while two HOF's, Jim Langer and Paul Krause registered at less than 1% each. It always bemuses to see HOF's/near HOF's register such small numbers when Ryan Fitzpatrick is consistently around 50% whenever he's used on the board. I understand why, but makes me shake my head a bit every time.
 

If it wasn't before, our similarities are getting eerie--in addition to sharing the Gonzalez miss, my Twins right fielder was Munoz. However, my overall Twins score was a bit higher than yours-.52 with Bernie Allen and Scott Klingenback rounding out the trio.
My Twins Board of Integrity was Bobby Randall 0.1, Joe Mauer 2 & Drew Butera 0.05 for 2.15 total. I question the Mauer figure as that would mean over 1500 guessed or knew he played 1 game in RF!?!

On another device I wanted redemption for the Arizona RF and a shot at single digits using Royals 70s backups.

Billy Gardner 0.06
Rick Sofield 0.03
Tom Burgmeier 0.07
Eduardo Escobar 2
Jason Kubel 0.9
Byung-Hyun Kim 7
U L Washington 2
Pete LaCock 0.1
Al Hrabosky 0.6

I guess too many folks remembered Kim giving up those late inning HRs against the Yanks to foil my single digit effort.
 
Last edited:



My Twins Board of Integrity was Bobby Randall 0.1, Joe Mauer 2 & Drew Butera 0.05 for 2.15 total. I question the Mauer figure as that would mean over 1500 guessed or knew he played 1 game in RF!?!

On another device I wanted redemption for the Arizona RF and a shot at single digits using Royals 70s backups.

Billy Gardner 0.06
Rick Sofield 0.03
Tom Burgmeier 0.07
Eduardo Escobar 2
Jason Kubel 0.9
Byung-Hyun Kim 7
U L Washington 2
Pete LaCock 0.1
Al Hrabosky 0.6

I guess too many folks remembered Kim giving up those late inning HRs against the Yanks to foil my single digit effort.
Former Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb came in at 3%--along with Big Unit and Schilling and randomly Robbie Ray, those are the only Diamondbacks pitchers I can recall. I was tempted to use UL Washington as the Royals 2B, but chickened out and played it safe with Frank White. And anytime you can utilize Pete LaCock, the baseball card in my collection that elicited the most giggles this side of Rusty Kuntz, you gotta do it.
 

If it wasn't before, our similarities are getting eerie--in addition to sharing the Gonzalez miss, my Twins right fielder was Munoz. However, my overall Twins score was a bit higher than yours-.52 with Bernie Allen and Scott Klingenback rounding out the trio.

For the T-Wolves, I went with Antoine Walker and two original Wolfies-Scottie Brooks and Ty Corbin. Grand total of 3.4%

And for the Vikes, Leroy Hoard took 4% for the Cleveland match, while two HOF's, Jim Langer and Paul Krause registered at less than 1% each. It always bemuses to see HOF's/near HOF's register such small numbers when Ryan Fitzpatrick is consistently around 50% whenever he's used on the board. I understand why, but makes me shake my head a bit every time.
I thought Cris Carter was good for Vikings-Dolphins, but he was 10%.
 

I thought Cris Carter was good for Vikings-Dolphins, but he was 10%.
Culpepper 34% even though his career in Miami was about the same length.

Jim Marshall was 2%. Interesting there, as he started with the Cleveland Browns and it still counts on the Grid, even though that franchise was moved to Baltimore and reborn as the Ravens by Art Modell.

The Browns were then reincarnated as an Expansion team.
 



Culpepper 34% even though his career in Miami was about the same length.

Jim Marshall was 2%. Interesting there, as he started with the Cleveland Browns and it still counts on the Grid, even though that franchise was moved to Baltimore and reborn as the Ravens by Art Modell.

The Browns were then reincarnated as an Expansion team.
The Browns are considered the same franchise as before. The NFL let them keep all records and history. Baltimore is treated as the expansion team as far as NFL history.
 

Grid moves up to dropping a new one at 5am (CST) starting tomorrow. Time to budget more time laying under the covers every morning.
 

Grid moves up to dropping a new one at 5am (CST) starting tomorrow. Time to budget more time laying under the covers every morning.
Nice. There are a lot of weekend days, especially with the golf season over, I have been staring at my phone at 7:59 waiting for the drop.

Brewers-Mariners today threw me for a loop.
 

Nice. There are a lot of weekend days, especially with the golf season over, I have been staring at my phone at 7:59 waiting for the drop.

Brewers-Mariners today threw me for a loop.
I had one, but I'd already used him on Pirates/Mariners, so I was stuck. I guessed that Dave Kingman played for Milwaukee at some point, but I think I was thinking of Rob Deer.
 



I had one, but I'd already used him on Pirates/Mariners, so I was stuck. I guessed that Dave Kingman played for Milwaukee at some point, but I think I was thinking of Rob Deer.

I wound up guessing Ruppert Jones, but he was Fail, having not played for the Brewers. Thought of Nelson Cruz too late.

What's really stupid is that I used Gorman Thomas in the 30 HR category for Milwaukee, only to later realize he also played for Seattle.
 
Last edited:

I had one, but I'd already used him on Pirates/Mariners, so I was stuck. I guessed that Dave Kingman played for Milwaukee at some point, but I think I was thinking of Rob Deer.
I used a big bopper from the early 'aughts--a tall drink of water who bridged the Brewer power gap between the memorable '80s Brew Crew and the Prince Fielder/Ryan Braun era. As with Stormin' Gorman, he would have worked in the 30+ HR category too.
 

I don't like when they aren't specific with the correct answers. Like I had no idea who the six guys from the Padres who won more than 200 games are. To just give me a list of every pitcher who's won 200+ games requires me to do more work than I'm willing to take on.
 

I used a big bopper from the early 'aughts--a tall drink of water who bridged the Brewer power gap between the memorable '80s Brew Crew and the Prince Fielder/Ryan Braun era. As with Stormin' Gorman, he would have worked in the 30+ HR category too.
After the fact, finding out that Larry Hisle qualified in the Brewer/30 HR category was quite surprising to me. I totally forgot that he did have a really stellar 1st season in Milwaukee (1978), before his rotator cuff injury pretty much ended his career.

I wonder if modern medical technology could have extended his production. He was only 32 when the tear occurred.
 
Last edited:

I don't like when they aren't specific with the correct answers. Like I had no idea who the six guys from the Padres who won more than 200 games are. To just give me a list of every pitcher who's won 200+ games requires me to do more work than I'm willing to take on.
The worst showing all the Golden Glove winners.

As for the Padres, thinking off the top of my head the 200 game winners are not really well known for pitching in San Diego either, which makes it tougher. Both of their 300 Game winners were pretty well traveled. though 1 of them won a Cy Young in his 2 seasons with the Friars.
 

So, in my post-grid research today, digging into the players who played for both the Dodgers and Giants and stumbled upon another “what could have been for the Twins” when I landed upon Reggie Smith. I clicked on his profile to see which teams he’d played for, having long ago memories of him being an intimidating, home run hitter with a reputation for being a clubhouse leader. Turns out, the Twins signed him out of HS in ‘63 and was then drafted six months later by the Red Sox in an antiquated first year players draft that was designed to temper the bonus signings given to prospects (no doubt something supported by Calvin Griffith).

He emerged in ‘67 for the BoSox, finishing second in ROY to Sir Rodney Carew and aiding the BoSox to win one of the all-time great pennant races (with the Twins finishing a game back). From then through the ‘70s Smith was a stalwart for the BoSox, Cardinals, and Dodgers. Meanwhile, while Smith was emerging, the Twins had Ted Uhleander, Brant Alyea, and Jim Holt patrolling the outfield as the dominant Twins teams of the ‘60s faded in the early ‘70s. Smith finished his career with 64.6 WAR, 7 All Star appearances, 315 HR’s.

A couple months ago I posited the opportunity the Twins had to ride a Luis Tiant-Bert Blyleven-Jim Kaat rotation through much of the ‘70’s; I felt there was a lot of blame that could be directed towards poor decisions on that one, but I can’t imagine you can fault the Twins too much for losing Smith six months into his pro career at the tender age of 18. But you can imagine how Carew and Smith (and hell, Graig Nettles if the Tiant trade had never happened) could have carried a potent Twins lineup through the’70s.
 
Last edited:

So, in my post-grid research today, digging into the players who played for both the Dodgers and Giants and stumbled upon another “what could have been for the Twins” when I landed upon Reggie Smith. I clicked on his profile to see which teams he’d played for, having long ago memories of him being an intimidating, home run hitter with a reputation for being a clubhouse leader. Turns out, the Twins signed him out of HS in ‘63 and was then drafted six months later by the Red Sox in an antiquated first year players draft that was designed to temper the bonus signings given to prospects (no doubt something supported by Calvin Griffith).

He emerged in ‘67 for the BoSox, finishing second in ROY to Sir Rodney Carew and aiding the BoSox to win one of the all-time great pennant races (with the Twins finishing a game back). From then through the ‘70s Smith was a stalwart for the BoSox, Cardinals, and Dodgers. Meanwhile, while Smith was emerging, the Twins had Ted Uhleander, Brant Alyea, and Jim Holt patrolling the outfield as the dominant Twins teams of the ‘60s faded in the early ‘70s. Smith finished his career with 64.6 WAR, 7 All Star appearances, 315 HR’s.

A couple months ago I posited the opportunity the Twins had to ride a Luis Tiant-Bert Blyleven-Jim Kaat rotation through much of the ‘70’s; I felt there was a lot of blame that could be directed towards poor decisions on that one, but I can’t imagine you can fault the Twins too much for losing Smith six months into his pro career at the tender age of 18. But you can imagine how Carew and Smith (and hell, Graig Nettles if the Tiant trade had never happened) could have carried a potent Twins lineup through the’70s.
Would have been fun if the Twins run from 1969-70 could been extended to compete with the A's then Royals that followed until the end of the decade.

Certainly would have created a lot more excitement in my childhood to then go head-to-head with the Red Sox & Yankees for the AL Pennant.
 

Like I had no idea who the six guys from the Padres who won more than 200 games are. To just give me a list of every pitcher who's won 200+ games requires me to do more work than I'm willing to take on.
Looking at the list, I can come up with 5, but the 6th is a mystery.

- Greg Maddux
- Gaylord Perry
- David Wells
- Kevin Brown
- Joe Niekro
 




I only do the Hoops grid about 50% of the time, and can count the number of times I have been perfect on 1 hand.

Today was a lay up though. I used in no particular order:

- Jerry West
- Steph Curry
- Moses Malone
- Hakeem Olajawon
- Charles Barkley
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Larry Bird
- Julius Erving

AND to top it all off, former Gopher great and now Timberwolf legend behind the mic...Jim Peterson.

Congratulations to Jim Pete for being in this amazing company! His 0.4% kept my rarity score to 161.
 

I only do the Hoops grid about 50% of the time, and can count the number of times I have been perfect on 1 hand.

Today was a lay up though. I used in no particular order:

- Jerry West
- Steph Curry
- Moses Malone
- Hakeem Olajawon
- Charles Barkley
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Larry Bird
- Julius Erving

AND to top it all off, former Gopher great and now Timberwolf legend behind the mic...Jim Peterson.

Congratulations to Jim Pete for being in this amazing company! His 0.4% kept my rarity score to 161.
Seems to me that they tend to dummy things down on the weekends to make it a little easier.
 


Twins Alert on the Grid:

- Tragically passed
- Disco
- Sidewinder
 

T-Wolves and Vikings alert in the grid today which aided me in becoming immaculate with n these two boards.
TWolves: big Aussie; Villanova alum; an original Wolfie
Vikings: a favorite of Mike Zimmer’s; a kicker who made most of his memories in Motown; a DE who also was a Motown menace

The only thing that kept me from sweeping the boards today was Dale Sveum-was certain he played for both Brewers and Cubs, turns out he was only the manager of the Cubs. Son of a …🤬

Editing this comment to mention how astounding I find it that there’s so little crossover of players between the Vikings and Bengals, seeing how they’ve both been in the league for 50+ years and there are 42 players who have played for both teams. The skill positions are eye-opening in their starkness; it’s downright bizarre.
 

So, like a dog with a bone, I just couldn’t let the Bengals-Vikings lack of cross-pollination go. Turns out that from 1970 (AFL-NFL merger) until 1990 only 7 players played for both squads at one time. 20 years! After 1990, the floodgates trickled open, but take a look at the list-it’s not exactly a commiseration of All-Pro talent.
 




Top Bottom