Immaculate Grid

[Fman99]

I've still not gotten a 9 yet.

Immaculate Grid 95 7/9:

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COL/DET - Octavio Dotel 5%
DET/ATL -
DET/40 HR - Cecil Fielder 17%
STL/COL - Matt Holliday 18%
STL/ATL - Joe Torre 2%
STL/40 HR - Rogers Hornsby 3%
NYY/COL
NYY/ATL - Babe Ruth 2%
NYY/40 HR - Mickey Mantle 5%

[Benjamin Grimm]

I flubbed the Mike Brady square by picking John Smoltz; I apparently didn't realize that Smoltz never pitched for the Tigers before being traded to the Braves. On my second guess, I picked the guy he was traded for, Doyle Alexander. Because I took two tries at the Mike Brady square, I never made a guess for the Greg spot.

Tigers/Rockies: --
Tigers/Braves: Doyle Alexander 6%
Tigers/40HR: Hank Greenberg 5%
Cardinals/Rockies: Nolan Arenado 51%
Cardinals/Braves: Terry Pendleton 3%
Cardinals/40HR: Albert Pujols 50%
Yankees/Rockies: Todd Zeile 0.2%
Yankees/Braves: David Justice 13%
Yankees/40HR: Roger Maris 11%

[batmagadanleadoff]

Immaculate Grid 95 9/9:

IMMACULATE!
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[Benjamin Grimm]

Pirates/A's: Manny Sanguillen 1%
Pirates/Blue Jays: Al Oliver 0.4%
Pirates MVP: Willie Stargell 13%
Giants/A's: Vida Blue 5%
Giants/Blue Jays: Jeff Kent 3%
Giants MVP: Willie Mays 13%
20 wins/A's: Dave Stewart 10%
20 wins/Blue Jays: - -
20 wins/MVP: Justin Verlander 37%

I got all but the Carol Brady square. I incorrectly guessed Dave Stieb.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Immaculate Grid 96 9/9:

IMMACULATE!
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Stieb was my first and immediate thought for 20W/Blue Jay. But I wasn't so sure that Stieb won 20 so I went with Clemens, which was a safer pick.

[Edgy MD]

Stieb did not win 20 for the Blue Jays. I unfortunately learned that the hard way this morning.

I also learned that it is, in fact, "Stieb," and not "Steib," as I first thought.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I have no memory of Roger Clemens as a Toronto Blue Jay.

I'm sure I was aware of it at the time.

[Edgy MD]

In 1994 and 1995, he was sliding toward mediocrity with the Sox. When they weren't interested in signing him to a multi-year deal anyhow, he was PISSED. He signed a four-year contract with Toronto, and out of nowhere, pitched the best two seasons of his life, winning the CYA both years. To my thinking, he was juiced to the gills and felt justified in it, because fuck the world.

The Yankees felt differently, because they backed up the truck in trading for him, including sending over fan-fave David Wells. Or maybe they didn't feel differently, and felt that 'fuck the world' was all very on brand.

Once, when Clemens was having a tough time on the mound at Yankee Stadium, the fans chanted "Boomer! Boomer!" to declare their preference for Wells, and one of the Yankees actually called Wells up and held the phone up so Wells could hear the chanting.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Seven today. All but Alice and Bobby. I thought I would whiff on the 30SB column, but I ended up getting all three.

Royals/Nationals: Hubie Brooks 0.3%
Royals/Padres: Kevin McReynolds 0.4%
Royals/30SB: Vince Coleman 2% (Willie Wilson might have been a safer bet)
Rangers/Nationals: Mike Jorgensen 0.04%
Rangers/Padres: --
Rangers/30SB: Oddibe McDowell 2%
Brewers/Nationals: --
Brewers/Padres: Rollie Fingers 2%
Brewers/30SB: Paul Molitor 12%

[batmagadanleadoff]

This one was a disaster. I got four right. And two wrong. And then I just quit. Sometimes, I'm like the '62 Mets, finding new ways to lose that I never thought were possible.



Here's what happened:

I started off with Bevacqua. I'm finding that my favorite answers here have rarity scores of under one percent and are of players for which there are no pictures. Bevacqua! Then I went for some low-hanging fruit -- the gimmees -- Wilson and Molitor. Three for three. Perfect so far. And then the troubles started.

For Rangers/Nats, I typed in Jeff Burroughs. This answer was not accepted. I didn't know why. Burroughs was a no-doubter. '74 AL MVP with the Rangers. And then there was that '77 Sporting News cover of Burroughs with the Braves that for reasons unknown, I held onto for like two years. Burroughs was a Brave. What was going on with Immaculate Grid? It's not as if I already entered Burroughs for another answer to this game. I already made that mistake with Joe Morgan about a week ago and learned from that mistake. It's not as if there were two different Jeff Burroughs and I clicked on the other one. Made that mistake with Boog Powell and learned to be more careful. So what?

Here's what: The Nats used to be the Expos. Not the Braves. I had conflated the Braves for the team that the Nats originated from -- the Expos. What a screw-up.

OK. So moving on, I filled in Rollie Fingers for Brewers/Padres.

And then for Royals/Nats - Ray Sadecki. Wrong answer! WTF? Sadecki was a Royal, and briefly a Brave. There was no Topps card of Sadecki as a Brave but I had made a custom Brave Sadecki card years ago. It was one of the first cards I ever made. So I knew that Sadecki was once a Brave.

Turns out, I did it again. I made the same mistake I made with Buroughs, conflating Braves with Expos. Unbelievable. So I lost the mood to finish the game and just quit.

[nymr83]

No love for Seaver 12 minutes after midnight at 3%.

I started this at 12:01 and had 5 boxes in 30 seconds (The team-statistics ones are always easier for me than the 'played on 2 teams' ones unless one of those teams is the Mets)

Jeromy Burnitz took me about 10 minutes to figure out

Screenshot 2023-07-10 001429.jpg (114.39 KiB) Viewed 4216 times

[batmagadanleadoff]

Immaculate Grid 98 9/9:

IMMACULATE!
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[Benjamin Grimm]

Got my fourth-ever Immaculate this morning. Only two of the nine were Mets.

Cubs/Red Sox: Fergie Jenkins 0.7%
Cubs/Indians: Manny Trillo 0.2%
Cubs/Cy Young: Rick Sutcliffe 5%
Twins/Red Sox: David Ortiz 56%
Twins/Indians: Bert Blyleven 5%
Twins/Cy Young: Frank Viola 10%
3000K/Red Sox: Roger Clemens 39%
3000K/Indians: Gaylord Perry 10%
3000K/Cy Young: Tom Seaver 4%

[Fman99]

I got 7 today including a number of the same choices at BG (Ortiz, Viola, Perry, and Clemens/Seaver, though I had them in the reverse spots from where BG had them), as well as Bill Buckner for CHC/BOS and Greg Maddux as the Cy Cub

[dgwphotography]

I still haven't gotten 9 - today I got 8 out of 9

Cubs/Red Sox: Bill Buckner
Cubs/Indians: Manny Trillo
Cubs/Cy Young: Rick Sutcliffe
Twins/Red Sox: David Ortiz
Twins/Indians:
Twins/Cy Young: Johan Santana
3000K/Red Sox: Roger Clemens
3000K/Indians: Steve Carlton
3000K/Cy Young: Tom Seaver

[Edgy MD]

Bob Feller didn't strike out 3,000.

You can blame World War II, but he actually didn't even come that close.

[Fman99]

Another 7. I'll get my 9 someday (a day where there are no AL teams on there).

CIN/ANA -
TB/ANA -
ANA/All Star - Reggie 1%
CIN/BAL - Frank Robinson 24%
BAL/TB - Edwin Jackson 6%
BAL/All Star - Brooks Robinson 3%
ATL/CIN - Deion 8%
ATL/TB - Fred McGriff 12%
ATL/All Star - Dale Murphy 3%

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Scored an .04% in ATL/CIN Alex Trevino. Guessed that Tim Salmon was an All-Star but that was wrong.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I only got six today. Whenever I see the Tampa Bay logo, I know I'm in trouble. I missed the entire second column.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: THERE WILL BE TWO PUZZLES TODAY. THE SECOND ONE WILL BE POSTED AT 11:30 AM EASTERN TIME.

Angels/Reds: Alex Johnson 0.1%
Angels/Rays: --
Angels/All-Star: Mike Trout 36%
Orioles/Reds: Frank Robinson 26%
Orioles/Rays: --
Orioles/All-Star: Brooks Robinson 3%
Braves/Reds: Ken Griffey Sr. 3%
Braves/Rays: --
Braves/All-Star: Hank Aaron 3%

[Edgy MD]

I swear to God, if one more of these things includes Tampa Bay, I'm gonna start breaking stuff.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If each row and each column was headed with the TB logo, and I had to name nine distinct Tampa Bay Rays, I don't think I could do it.

[dgwphotography]

6 of 9:

Angels/Reds: --
Angels/Rays: --
Angels/All-Star: Wally Joyner
Orioles/Reds: Frank Robinson
Orioles/Rays: --
Orioles/All-Star: Cal Ripken Jr
Braves/Reds: Ken Griffey Sr.
Braves/Rays: Fred McGriff
Braves/All-Star: Hank Aaron

[TransMonk]

If each row and each column was headed with the TB logo, and I had to name nine distinct Tampa Bay Rays, I don't think I could do it.

Very much this. If I see the TB logo, I throw up my hands.

[Edgy MD]

After I run out of turns with my board half-filled, I want the remaining tiles to be turned over one by one, revealing the most popular answer, a la Family Feud, with the studio audience reading along in exasperation.

HOST: "Show me ... our Padre/Brewer!!"

(tile flips)

AUDIENCE: "HUNTER RENFROE!!"

HOST: "Hunter Renfroe. Thirty six percent of correct respondents answered Hunter Renfroe."

CONTESTANT: "And I hate them all, Eric."

HOST: "He also played for Tampa Bay."

CONTESTANT: "Now you're just being cruel."

HOST: "Are you sure you follow this game?"

CONTESTANT: "Eat shit, Eric."

HOST: "Show me ... our Oriole/Mariner!!"

[Fman99]

Don't forget they have a very special 2nd grid coming out at 11:30 AM EDT today, as per the crawl I saw at the top of the page. Another opportunity for me to demonstrate how little I know about the Junior Circuit

OE: I didn't notice previously that BG also pointed out this second grid.