After seeing others' answers, I opened up a new window to see if it was possible to fill today's grid with only former Red Sox. The answer is yes, but I did have to put a number of players whose Red Sox career I'd rather forget
Immaculate Grid: Show Off Your Useless Baseball Depth Knowledge!
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Darn homers. A pretty great 8 rarity score. Had a real chance for a PB. Upside/downside of having two great teams like the Cardinals and Yankees. Suppose it would've soared if I went all rise bottom-right, but the opposite of such chant's rhyming counterpart in the box above. 
9/9, rarity score 137. Went with a lot of safe answers today. Surprised though that 3% went with Eddie Mathews for Braves/Tigers; thought his Detroit stint was less well known.
9/9 rarity score 122. I picked Jim Edmonds for 40+ HR season for STL because of steroids for McGuire and allied steroids for Puljos. I gave a thought to going with Rogers Hornsby. I went for Roger Maris for 40+ HR for NYY just for nostalgic purposes. I flipped a coin for Jason Giambi vs Joe Girardi for COL-NYY.
I like that Darrell Evans pick a lot. And any day you can use an Alou brother is a good day.
7/9 today, once again got caught getting too cute
Could have sworn Sheffield hit 40 HR for the Yanks, but he only did it for the Marlins once and the Dodgers once
Could have sworn Sheffield hit 40 HR for the Yanks, but he only did it for the Marlins once and the Dodgers once
@Brand Name I have gotten a chuckle seeing your results on the bird. I guess that you have spoiled them, but it shows up 'sensitive' content. See:
Haha, this is by design. Closest they've got to a spoiler tag. Don't think I'm going to put them as violence (despite murdering the game daily) or nudity (even though today asks for lots of dongs) since that's also my work professional account.
I was considering
Musial and Johnny Mize
McGwire (not much of a spoiler). I checked Mize's BRef page and he would have been a correct answer. But, jesus, what a career that guy had despite losing three years to WWII. Insane that he needed the veterans committee to get him into the Hall nearly thirty years after he retired. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mizejo01.shtml
I was surprised that Mantle was at 5% rarity. I find the Rockies categories exceedingly difficult and have yet to even get close to a 9/9. I got my first seven correct today, but petered out in the top left of the grid.
NOPE, and I know this from firsthand experience. I also thought that
Adam Wainright made his debut with the Braves before being traded to the Cards, but he was just a top prospect with the Braves and never made it past AA. What an idiot I am.
I couldn't get top left either, but looks like we're not alone:
The percentage that really surprised me was Phil Niekro. First guy I thought of. But I'm old. Mantle surprised me a bit, too.
Mantle there might be one of those picks that everyone thinks will be a popular one and thus choose someone else, and the result is hardly anyone picks him. On the other hand, the AL HR record has been held by one of three Yankees for the last century, so it wouldn't shock me if those three were the dominant picks, especially for folks more concerned with going 9 for 9 than getting a low rarity score.
The more I've played with this, the more I'm most intrigued by some of the most common answers. Even though there are obvious, no-brainer choices for most squares, there seems to always be one per day that makes say "that guy is the most common answer?" I think I might try to go for a max rarity score by getting all 9 #1 choices, just to mix it up. I mean, there's no competing with Jess going for obscurity, might as well go in the complete opposite direction.
It is super fascinating which players are the No. 1 choice each day. I think you have to take into account that mainly baseball nerds are doing this, so the knowledge base is high and the results will be skewed. I like the idea of trying to get all nine No. 1 choices. That would be hard.
My first 9/9. Kind of a disappointing 180 for rarity.
Had a hard time initially coming up with a Tiger/Brave after using Evans as my Tiger 40-HR guy, figuring he'd be more of a rarity than Greenberg or Cabrera or Fielder. I scratched Smoltz because I knew he was still in AA when the trade happened. Took me a minute or two realize duh use the guy they traded him for (which was a very good deal for them at the time -- Smoltz would have never become what he was in that organization, which didn't produce a single good homegrown starting pitcher in the quarter century between Jack Morris/Dan Petry and Justin Verlander. His ceiling would have been Justin Thompson). Also tough to pick the right Yankee 40+ hitter. Ruth, Maris and Mantle all seemed way too obvious.
No. But I used who he was traded for and got 7% on that. Rogers Hornsby got me a 0.1% for Braves/Cards though Bob Horner would have been a good one too.
Anybody play crossovergrid.com? Not as fun as immaculate grid seeing as they don't prepare a Rarity Score, but they do show percentages next to each name at least...
First & only 9/9 I'll get for the NHL version.
Not all players have faces, so it looks kinda ugly.
Not all players have faces, so it looks kinda ugly.
I’m amused that for the bottom right, my pick of
was only 3% but
would have been 5%. Recency bias, indeed.
Lou Gehrig
Curtis Granderson
My pick of
Reggie Jackson
Here's my grid:
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The MVP of this shit is Octavio Dotel because he played on 13 different teams. When in doubt, punch him in.
Bit of a rush job this morning going with the first name that occurred to me rather than trying to get cute. 247 rarity score.
Willie says "Hey", not "Cheese".
Thanks @koufax32, My memory works some time. You got it done. I am envious of that. While typing this the name Phil Garner popped in my head. Perfect for upper left.
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8/9 today rarity score 190 because I would have sworn that Dave Stieb won 20 games at least once. But if I'm being honest I probably would have struggled to come up with a Pirate/Jay (did not remember Joey Bats was a Buc). At least I got to use an Alou brother.
9/9 today, rarity score of 90
Couple of good ones in here. I figured most people would have picked Clemens over Halladay. Probably would have improved my rarity score significantly with Clemens. Oh well.
Couple of good ones in here. I figured most people would have picked Clemens over Halladay. Probably would have improved my rarity score significantly with Clemens. Oh well.
Like minds on bottom right. Percentage doesn't surprise me due to the circumstances. First guy I thought of, though.
Recently I saw a gris square about 40 saves. That made me think of Eck. That is why I locked on to him qwuickly
Rarity score 70. Got some low numbers with a bunch of recent Sox (my wheelhouse), but my rarity score was crushed by a cover athlete from MLB: The Show.
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Edited to add: Kudos upthread for the bottom right. Wish I thought of him, too. I'm sad that my bottom-right was way lower than my top-right.
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Edited to add: Kudos upthread for the bottom right. Wish I thought of him, too. I'm sad that my bottom-right was way lower than my top-right.
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I've used him a few times. I like this one because I'm pretty sure he's the only one with 20 wins with the MVP as a reliever.
I thought of him but I assumed the square had to be filled by someone who won 20 games the same year they won the MVP. Obviously not the case if Eck counts.