Immaculate Grid recap #304
I am a Phillies fan so anytime the Phillies are on the grid I get excited that I can go low on the rarity side. The other teams and categories make that a little harder for me here as Gold Glove and Silver Slugger naturally limit the pool of players and I am decidedly not an expert on the other three teams here as well. I still managed a 9/9 today, but my rarity score was a little higher than I'd norm
⚾️ Immaculate Grid 304 9/9:
Rarity: 110
IMMACULATE!
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PIRATES - A's
My guess: Jason Kendall. Kendall is one of my grid favorites because he's played for some teams I really am not versed with (Brewers, Pirates, Royals, A's) and that makes him a valuable guy to remember for Immaculate Grid. Plus he was really good, especially before his ankle exploded on live TV (41.7 career bWAR, 3X all-star, routinely posted OPS+ of over 120 in the seasons before the injury). Good "Remember this Guy?" guy.
My favorite guy, post-guess: Normally I might have stuck with Jason Kendall here even with some pretty good names from the early 1900s and with guys like Ike Davis on the list, but I gotta go with Matt Stairs. Matt Stairs played for pretty much everyone in his career and he hit one of the most famous home runs in Phillies history that still gives me chills when I think about. Matt Stairs was a professional hitter and a classic baseball guy.
PIRATES GOLD GLOVE
My guess: Ke'Bryan Hayes. Hayes won it this year so I was confident in the answer and I figured since he is a current Pirate (i.e. he flies under the radar because the team is bad) he'd rate pretty well on rarity. Check and check.
My favorite guy, post-guess: Andy Van Slyke. Andy Van Slyke is just a great early 90s Pirates guy. Great name, good ballplayer, classic Pirate.
PIRATES SILVER SLUGGER
My guess: Barry Bonds. Bonds was obviously an incredible hitter his whole career so I assumed he won it at least once with the Pirates and hoped people would opt for more recent guys like Andrew McCutcheon in their guesses. Cutch was guessed more than Bonds, but my guess simply wasn't as cute as I hoped.
My favorite guy, post guess: I won't double up with Andy Van Slyke here since I used him last time and although I want to go with one of the two 80s pitchers that won it, I'll say Bobby Bonilla here. He won it at two different positions (3B in 1988 and OF in 1990 and 1991) and that is pretty solid. Bobby Bo could rake in his day.
PHILLIES - A's
My guess: Joe Blanton. Joe Blanton hit one of the more unlikely home runs in baseball history and it sent Citizen's Bank Park into a frenzy unlike many other times. Joe Blanton is just a guy I'll not soon forget and the Phillies acquired him from the A's that season.
My favorite guy, post guess: Joe Blanton. He's not the most obscure guess ever, but I don't want to double up on Matt Stairs and Blanton had a similarly huge impact on the Phillies World Series winning team.
PHILLIES GOLD GLOVE
My guess: Zach Wheeler. Wheeler won it this past season, pitchers don't get a ton of love for defense (outside of Greg Maddux), and Jimmy Rollins and Mike Schmidt were much more likely to garner widespread attention.
My favorite guy, post guess: Mike Lieberthal. Would never have guessed he won one of these things. He was a stalwart on some really bad Phillies teams and gave us all hope of getting back to contender status.
PHILLIES SILVER SLUGGER
My guess: Darren Daulton. Dutch was the best catcher in baseball for a couple of seasons there in the 90s, especially on offense. I was pretty sure he won it at some point and he wasn't one of the more obvious Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Mike Schmidt set.
My favorite guy, post guess: Bobby Abreu and Juan Samuel stand out from the non-obvious category, but Chase Utley is my favorite baseball player ever so the gets the nod for that. Daulton and Samuel probably fit better in the "Remember this guy?" bucket though.
TIGERS - A's
My guess: Johnny Damon. This was the spot I struggled the most with and Damon was honestly the first (and only) person that came to mind. I was pleasantly surprised at the rarity score here.
My favorite guy, post guess: Bip Roberts. Fun name, very Reds player (who only played 2 of his 12 seasons for the Reds, but was an All Star for them in 1992, his only ASG appearance), and somehow played for both of these teams for one season only and it happened to be the same season, 1998. 34 games and 113 ABs for the Tigers, 61 games and 182 ABs for the A's. Outstanding.
TIGERS GOLD GLOVE
My guess: Ivan Rodriguez. This was a legit guess. I knew Pudge played for the Tigers and he's arguably the best defensive catcher in history. So I guessed that he won one when he was with the Tigers.
My favorite guy, post guess: Placid Polanco. Polanco won it for the Tigers in 2007 and 2009 at second base. He also won one for the Phillies in 2011 at third base. Nails.
TIGERS SILVER SLUGGER
My guess: Cecil Fielder. This one was also mostly a guess. I knew Miguel Cabrera had definitely won one at some point, but I knew he'd be the most frequent guess so I took a stab that Cecil had won one at some point.
My favorite guy, post guess: Mickey Tettleton. This was tough because I still really like Cecil Fielder and in another fun twist Prince Fielder also won a Silver Slugger for the Tigers in 2011 and that connection almost swayed me. Polanco won one in one of the same years as he won Gold Glove which is always neat. Damion Easley won one and he's a fun guy to remember. But come on, if we're going to remember some guys, Mickey Tettleton is a prime "Remember this guy?" guy.
