So you're looking for a Grid guy...
A few helpful names and stories to keep in your back pocket for your daily pursuit of "Immaculate!"
Craig Muder’s office is in the front corner of the basement of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Closest to the coffee maker, not that he would ever dream of drinking any hot liquids. Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and the faces of other Pittsburgh Pirates greats look down from the walls, while a tidy lineup of MLB media guides from the last 20+ years stretch along a shelf within easy reach of the standard metal desk. In one of those drawers is a bottle of apple cider vinegar; he’ll extol the virtues of this daily shot to anyone. If you’ve read anything put out by the Hall of Fame since 2008, it was either written by Craig or reviewed by his keen eyes. An old-fashioned newspaper guy for nearly two decades before joining the Hall, he is a prolific writer, editor and researcher who champions the “nut graf,” vehemently eschews the Oxford comma and improves the writing of everyone he works with. In all likelihood, he was the best boss I’ll ever have.
Well before there was Immaculate Grid, there was Craig Muder. My cubicle sat kitty-corner from his perennially open office door, and intermittently throughout the week he would call out, utterly unprompted, a new, obscure stat he had discovered. On rare occasions I might have seen the stat already if it was being shared on social media, but more often than not it was impressive if I could simply recognize the players’ names.
I’ve missed these exchanges over the years, but Immaculate Grid has become a treasured way to take advantage of his encyclopedic knowledge now that we no longer holler dumb baseball facts at each other from across the office. In celebration of that, below are a smattering of players who are helpful names to keep in your proverbial back pocket while Gridding - some courtesy of Craig, some from the funhouse-mirrored hallways of my own mind. There’s plenty more where these came from…
Moises Alou
Teams: Pirates, Expos, Marlins, Astros, Cubs, Giants, Mets
Awards: All-Star (with every team except the Pirates and Mets), Silver Slugger (Expos, Astros), World Series champion (Marlins)
Relevant stats: .300+ career batting average, 2,000+ career hits, 1,000+ career RBI
Something interesting to bring the grid square to life: He is one of only 10 players in history with the following combination of career statistics: 300 homers, a .300 batting average and 100 stolen bases. Credit to #CardCorner.
Doyle Alexander
Teams: Dodgers, Yankees, Orioles, Rangers, Braves, Giants, Blue Jays, Tigers
Awards: All-Star (with the Tigers)
Relevant stats: N/A
Something interesting to bring the grid square to life: Poor Alexander was somewhat infamously traded in a one-to-one swap for future Hall of Famer John Smoltz. Credit to #CardCorner.
Gaylord Perry
Teams: Giants, Guardians, Rangers, Padres, Yankees, Mariners, Braves, Royals
Awards: Hall of Fame, Cy Young (2x), All-Star (5x)
Relevant stats: 3,000+ career strikeouts, 200+ single-season strikeouts, 20+ single-season wins, 300+ career wins, 300+ single-season innings pitched (haven’t seen this one yet, but how impressive is this??)
Something interesting to bring the grid square to life: In 1963, Perry’s manager in San Francisco, Alvin Dark, told reporters, “There’ll be a man on the moon before Perry hits a home run.” Six years later and just 34 minutes after the PA system at Candlestick Park announced that Apollo 11 had landed on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first major league home run.
Fernando Rodney
Teams: Tigers, Angels, Rays, Mariners, Cubs, Padres, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Twins, A’s, Nationals
Awards: World Series champion (Nationals), All-Star (Rays, Mariners, Marlins)
Relevant stats: 40+ saves in a single season, 300+ career saves
Something interesting to bring the grid square to life: If you or someone you know fell victim to the Fernando Rodney Experience, you may be entitled to financial compensation.
Lee Smith
Teams: Cubs, Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Orioles, Angels, Reds, Expos
Awards: Hall of Famer, All-Star (Cubs, Cardinals, Orioles, Angels)
Relevant stats: 400+ career saves, 40+ saves in a single season
Something interesting to bring the grid square to life: Born in a Louisiana town with fewer than 200 people, Lee Smith has a drawl that could lull you to sleep in seconds and can spin a yarn like nobody’s business. Should you ever encounter the hulking reliever, I highly recommend settling in for as many stories as you can.
The Brads
These are the fellas I always mix up in my mind when there’s a Marlins x AL Central square and I can perfectly picture Generic White Journeyman Reliever #2, but can never remember which Brad I want to select.
Boxberger - Padres, Rays (All-Star), Diamondbacks, Royals, Marlins, Brewers, Cubs. Bonus: 40+ saves in a single season
Hand - Marlins, Padres (All-Star), Guardians (All-Star), Nationals, Mets, Blue Jays, Phillies, Rockies, Braves. Bonus: 30+ saves in a single season
Ziegler - A’s, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Red Sox. Bonus: 30+ saves in a single season
The Ians
Pesky and swarthy in equal measure. Kennedy doesn’t make logical sense here, since he’s a pitcher and a redhead (?) but he has played for a number of teams and at the end of the day an Ian is an Ian.
Desmond - Nationals (All-Star, Silver Slugger), Rangers (All-Star), Rockies
Kennedy - Yankees, Diamondbacks, Padres, Royals, Rangers, Phillies
Kinsler - Rangers (All-Star, 30 stolen bases), Tigers (All-Star, Gold Glove), Angels, Red Sox, Padres (Gold Glove in the season he split between the Angels and the Red Sox. I don’t actually know how Immaculate Grid would count this…)
