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

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I was able to use an all-Cuban/former Twins on the bottom line of the grid today which reeled in two new unique players: Julio Becquer, Tony O, and Sandy Valdespino. Reading the Twins Almanac awhile back, I tucked in the recesses of my mind the formerly strong Cuban connection for the Senators/Twins and it paid off today.
 

coolhandgopher said:
I was able to use an all-Cuban/former Twins on the bottom line of the grid today which reeled in two new unique players: Julio Becquer, Tony O, and Sandy Valdespino. Reading the Twins Almanac awhile back, I tucked in the recesses of my mind the formerly strong Cuban connection for the Senators/Twins and it paid off today.
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My hack on the "Players Born Outside the 50 US States" is to type in Luis, Jorge or Juan and hope it leads me to someone who fits the other category and is a New Player.

It's worked recently for example on jogging my memory on Rivas, Orta & Beniquez.
 

Ope3 said:
My hack on the "Players Born Outside the 50 US States" is to type in Luis, Jorge or Juan and hope it leads me to someone who fits the other category and is a New Player.

It's worked recently for example on jogging my memory on Rivas, Orta & Beniquez.
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Be careful-I was sure Bobby Castillo was a shoo-in for outside the US and turns out he was an L.A. born native.

Btw, Brooks Lee (only 1 team/played 3rd base) brought me to 1390 players today. I think I might be leaning on current Twins (or real recent) to push me to 1400.
 

coolhandgopher said:
Be careful-I was sure Bobby Castillo was a shoo-in for outside the US and turns out he was an L.A. born native.

Btw, Brooks Lee (only 1 team/played 3rd base) brought me to 1390 players today. I think I might be leaning on current Twins (or real recent) to push me to 1400.
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Great minds on Brooks Lee, I used him on the same square, also a Newbie.

I must have used him before the Login option, because I distinctly remember entering Lee on the same Grid with his namesake, Brooks Robinson.
 

coolhandgopher said:
...brought me to 1390 players today. I think I might be leaning on current Twins (or real recent) to push me to 1400.
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I was able to work in Matt Olson from the HR Derby participants. He's #1300 for me with 588 Grids completed.

Took note he was previously with the A's, so fit in on the 1B combo.

Thought I roped in another with Todd Benzinger, but nope. Repeat.
 


Twins Alert on the Grid. I finally pulled the trigger on Reboulet. I was hoping to use him in a Twins/C sometime, as he was pressed into service once.

Screenshot_20250718-112146~2.png

Middle and Right columns are New Players, except 1. Thought Gura might be as well, however he's a repeat, but 5 is a good haul.

Webb is a current All Star, so I presumed correctly he previously won 10 games.
 
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600 Grids completed. Quite a battle for the #1 spot. Waite Hoyt picked up a game on Ken Brett in Today's Grid.

Screenshot_20250722-203411~2.png

What's funny is that until about my 550th Grid, I realized I hadn't used Ken's more well renowned brother, George.
 
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Twins Alert on the Grid today, added the A to Z combo to the New Players list along with John Rocker.

Abad, I stumbled upon purely from him being #1 on the franchise alphabetical list. Zachary (Senator) has come up often on Top WAR options options on franchise combos. Overall he's 40.0. Could be useful in future Rarity.

Total Rarity 14.

Screenshot_20250723-113339~2.png

No blood on the K Brett/W Hoyt race.
 




Ope3 said:
This Jesse Chavez guy just retired today Never heard of him, but can check several Grid Boxes.

He's in Rich Hill territory.

www.baseball-reference.com

Jesse Chavez Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Jesse Chavez. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com
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A mystery to me also-btw, I saw somewhere that Rich Hill joined Edwin Jackson this week, each having played for 14 teams; Jackson has the bonus of being born in Germany though, so he can stake the claim of king of IG.
 

coolhandgopher said:
A mystery to me also-btw, I saw somewhere that Rich Hill joined Edwin Jackson this week, each having played for 14 teams; Jackson has the bonus of being born in Germany though, so he can stake the claim of king of IG.
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That's helpful with Jackson being Foreign Born, quite helpful. I didn't know about that.

All 3 have a few sub 3.00 ERA campaigns. However in addition to being tough to remember, some were seasons in which they pitched for multiple teams, so that is tricky.

Both Jackson & Hill also have a couple 10 W years which can be a Rarity payoff.

Jackson was also a 1 Time All Star, so yes he's a Vagabond King of the Mountain.
 

Twins Alert on the Grid.

Currently hanging on to Single Digit Rarity Score of 9.

Added 4 New Players to the Ope3 Squad:

Smith
Rooker
Knepper
Comiskey

Screenshot_20250730-113730.jpg

I thought Coveleski was a Newbie, but no dice. Same with Keough.

The Old Roman was a complete fluke. I thought he was a hurler before his days of owning the White Stockings. Turns out he was primarily a 1Bman.

Commie made a grand total of 4 pitching appearances, all with the St Louis Browns (American Association). I guess it counts.

www.baseball-reference.com

Charlie Comiskey Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

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

I wonder who gave him the shiner? Probably lots of suspects.
 

Ope3 said:
Twins Alert on the Grid.

Currently hanging on to Single Digit Rarity Score of 9.

Added 4 New Players to the Ope3 Squad:

Smith
Rooker
Knepper
Comiskey

View attachment 38069

I thought Coveleski was a Newbie, but no dice. Same with Keough.

The Old Roman was a complete fluke. I thought he was a hurler before his days of owning the White Stockings. Turns out he was primarily a 1Bman.

Commie made a grand total of 4 pitching appearances, all with the St Louis Browns (American Association). I guess it counts.

www.baseball-reference.com

Charlie Comiskey Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

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

I wonder who gave him the shiner? Probably lots of suspects.
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My Twins were:
Astros-Jason Castro (2%)
Athletics-Don Baylor (3%; a bit surprised it was that big of percentage)
HOF’er-Early Wynn (.2%)

How are you doing with your total number of players? I am currently at 1419, slowly chugging towards 1500.

Btw, random obscure former Twin changing teams update: Ben Rortvedt was traded the other day to the Dodgers.

And, here’s a gem I found when I was reading the Bronko Nagurski book I recently finished—Ernie Nevers, football pioneer, HOF’er from his days with the Duluth Eskimos, also pitched in the major leagues for a brief while with the St. Louis Browns. So the next time you see the Orioles matched with the category “pitched one game”, I would imagine it’ll garner a mighty low score.
 



coolhandgopher said:
My Twins were:
Astros-Jason Castro (2%)
Athletics-Don Baylor (3%; a bit surprised it was that big of percentage)
HOF’er-Early Wynn (.2%)

How are you doing with your total number of players? I am currently at 1419, slowly chugging towards 1500.

Btw, random obscure former Twin changing teams update: Ben Rortvedt was traded the other day to the Dodgers.

And, here’s a gem I found when I was reading the Bronko Nagurski book I recently finished—Ernie Nevers, football pioneer, HOF’er from his days with the Duluth Eskimos, also pitched in the major leagues for a brief while with the St. Louis Browns. So the next time you see the Orioles matched with the category “pitched one game”, I would imagine it’ll garner a mighty low score.
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Looks like Nevers will also register in the ERA 3.00 or Under category as well.

www.baseball-reference.com

Ernie Nevers Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

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

I am at 1,397 Players Used with 647 Grids complete.

From that total though, I would guess at least 50-75 are completely (or mostly) research aided.

NEW Daily Grids, I play straight up.

However, as I am backfilling past Grids, especially in the Negro League categories, I will use some other resources. For a row of 3 I will fill in one legit (usually Paige, Newcomb, Robinson, Campanella, Doby etc) and then use the links to fill in the other 2.

For the retro Gids as well on Categories like 200 Wins, 2000 Hits or 300 HRs I have used the All Time lists mostly to rule out repeats.

No Newbies today, drew blanks on the .300 Season Average category that I have not already used. However I am proud that I plugged in Ken Brett (0.04%) as a Pitcher for the Pirates who had a such a season at the plate.

Waite Hoyt also checks the Tigers/Pirates box so it currently stands:

Ken Brett - 122 appearances
Waite Hoyt - 121 appearances
 

coolhandgopher said:
How are you doing with your total number of players? I am currently at 1419, slowly chugging towards 1500.
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Today's Trade Deadline events should lead to lots of opportunities. Twins alone will yield dozens of possibilities.
 

Day 1 and a perfect August is already burned, as Tom Glavine never reached 200 Ks in a season. He never was really close actually.

Feels akin to entering a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, going "all in" on the first hand and going bust.

Johnny Sain as a Braves 20 Game Winner was added a New Player though. Yeah, me.
 

Ope3 said:
Day 1 and a perfect August is already burned, as Tom Glavine never reached 200 Ks in a season. He never was really close actually.

Feels akin to entering a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, going "all in" on the first hand and going bust.

Johnny Sain as a Braves 20 Game Winner was added a New Player though. Yeah, me.
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I guess you’ll just have to Jim Bibby this month: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bibby

Bip Roberts brought me to 1425 players today, but I was happier to use Joe Nolan as player #1424. When visiting my Mom over the summer and shuffling through some of my old baseball cards, I was reminded of him; he was at the height of bespectacled catchers in baseball along with Darrell Porter, Steve Yeager, and Rich Gedman.
 

coolhandgopher said:
I guess you’ll just have to Jim Bibby this month: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bibby

Bip Roberts brought me to 1425 players today, but I was happier to use Joe Nolan as player #1424. When visiting my Mom over the summer and shuffling through some of my old baseball cards, I was reminded of him; he was at the height of bespectacled catchers in baseball along with Darrell Porter, Steve Yeager, and Rich Gedman.
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I'm up to 1,420 having saved Diego Segui, for a M's>Brewers combo, being the only player to appear for both the Seattle Pilots and Mariners. I used his son, David recently this week as well. Sneaky good Grid asset.

The other New Player today for me was Ryan Jeffers in the Catcher/1 Team box.
 

Ope3 said:
I'm up to 1,420 having saved Diego Segui, for a M's>Brewers combo, being the only player to appear for both the Seattle Pilots and Mariners. I used his son, David recently this week as well. Sneaky good Grid asset.

The other New Player today for me was Ryan Jeffers in the Catcher/1 Team box.
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I also used Jeffers for the same purpose-you’re going to leave me in the dust soon, I am at 1426 players.
 

Ope3 said:
I'm up to 1,420 having saved Diego Segui, for a M's>Brewers combo, being the only player to appear for both the Seattle Pilots and Mariners. I used his son, David recently this week as well. Sneaky good Grid asset.

The other New Player today for me was Ryan Jeffers in the Catcher/1 Team box.
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coolhandgopher said:
I also used Jeffers for the same purpose-you’re going to leave me in the dust soon, I am at 1426 players.
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After the fact, I realized I could have plugged David Segui in the Guards/Jays as well as Gaurds/Ms boxes for a father-son daily double.

As for the Total Player count competition, it's not really a like-for-like comparison. I have been New Player hunting ever since I knew it was tracked, when I was at about 800 and retro-fitting while doing past Grids. I'm at 662 Complete out of 855.
 
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Kind of surprised that there's only 32 guys who were born outside the US with 300+ career homers. Morneau is not one of them. Should have known that.
 

When we do reach 1500 players, we will have covered slightly more than 7% of the entirety of MLB players all-time (I was curious). It’s actually a higher percentage than I expected.
 

coolhandgopher said:
When we do reach 1500 players, we will have covered slightly more than 7% of the entirety of MLB players all-time (I was curious). It’s actually a higher percentage than I expected.
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Sometimes, one just lucks out into a New Players.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I used former Twin, Joe Smith (journeyman reliever, also known for being wed to Allie LaForce). When I entered his name, another Joe Smith pops up who was a Catcher for the Yankees only in the 1912, so he fits a few boxes.

Also a few weeks ago I used Jose Morales, the DH-1B for the Twins ('79-'80) who also played for the A's, Expos, O's and Dodgers. Turns out there is another Jose Morales who played with the Twins & Rockies as a Catcher (2007-11). Also 2 games at 2B in Colorado.

Can't say I really recall the 2nd Jose. Since he was born in Puerto Rico and the earlier namesake hailed from the US Virgin Islands, I don't think they are related.

Nonetheless, Jose Morales V 2.0 works out in Todays Grid as a Foreign Born Rockie, making him Player #1427 for me.
 
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Eric Chavez was New Player #1436 in the A's/100 RBIs Cube. Bonus, because I would have guessed I had used him before, more than once actually.

He knocked more than 100 in 4 different seasons, 6X Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger.

As an extra Hint for today's Gridders, he finished his career with the D-Backs.
 

Twins Alert on the Grid. Assist from Coolhand on the Lea selection, though he was not a New Player Qualifier. I think I have used him on the Expos/Nats > No Hitter category.

Still it helped with a Single Digit Rarity Score of 8.

Screenshot_20250808-100932.jpg

My 2 Newbies are Colume and Crowder. General was part of the 1st Mid-Summer Classic s one of the franchises Debut All Stars along with Joe Cronin. I did a deep dive on that game recently which has paid if with several fresh choices. Fortunately "General" is a relatively easy name to remember.

Gehringer I have used before though.
 

Ope3 said:
Twins Alert on the Grid. Assist from Coolhand on the Lea selection, though he was not a New Player Qualifier. I think I have used him on the Expos/Nats > No Hitter category.

Still it helped with a Single Digit Rarity Score of 8.

View attachment 38226

My 2 Newbies are Colume and Crowder. General was part of the 1st Mid-Summer Classic s one of the franchises Debut All Stars along with Joe Cronin. I did a deep dive on that game recently which has paid if with several fresh choices. Fortunately "General" is a relatively easy name to remember.

Gehringer I have used before though.
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You and I shared Ron LeFlore today (a digression--does anyone remember the made for TV movie about LeFlore in the early '80s about his journey from prison to MLB? It barely registers, but I recall watching it as a kid)

It was a banner day for newcomers on my end, as I picked up 5 newbies, including a sweep across the All-Stars: Riley Greene, Joe Ryan, and Walker Buehler (trying to tap into the current players more, I've mined the '70s through '90s pretty well). Additionally, Matt Capps for Twins/Nats and Jose Contreras for 10 Win ChiSox. Should have been one more though--I couldn't get Danny Coulumbe out of my head while trying to remember Colome. Nice to see you worked in Ken Brett too, has he put any distance between himself and (I can't recall) the second place guy on your all-time use list?
 

coolhandgopher said:
You and I shared Ron LeFlore today (a digression--does anyone remember the made for TV movie about LeFlore in the early '80s about his journey from prison to MLB? It barely registers, but I recall watching it as a kid)
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I do recall. LaVar Burton played LeFlore, it felt like it was a hit as far as made for TV films go. I've assumed it was trying to capture the acclaim/ratings that was received for another sports film, The Brian Piccolo Story. Fell short of that marker.

Great work on adding 5 New Players. Stellar.

coolhandgopher said:
Nice to see you worked in Ken Brett too, has he put any distance between himself and (I can't recall) the second place guy on your all-time use list?
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Ken Brett has a 127 to 125 edge over Waite Hoyt. It's a conundrum at times because they do share the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers & Pirates as played for franchises.

I try to keep both pitchers happy in terms of playing time.
 

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