Results - Rarity Score of 35
Big What?
I would love to know why the San Diego Padres make for such a difficult category. It just doesn’t seem like many players appeared for SDP and then appeared for…anyone else; or, it feels like everybody played for every team except SDP. My best guess would be the franchise’s “short” life span. They are a 1969 expansion franchise along with the Royals, now-Brewers, and now-Nationals, and honestly, all of these can make for difficult solutions, so maybe it is the “recency.” Or they’re all cursed. Whichever you prefer.
Still pleased with how things turned out today, though my SDP is rather bland. Brandon Drury is my go-to for CIN-SDP and CIN-LAA usually, Michael Wacha was my only shot at STL-SDP, and you’ve probably seen me use Adam Frazier for SEA-SDP or SEA-BAL before. I had a little more fun with the following column, reaching back in time for the only two players on this Grid that aren’t active: Johnny Bench and Rogers Hornsby. Both Hall of Famers, I’m surprised their score is as low as it is, but again, I’m not complaining. Shifting back to the present, I completed the second base column with all 2023 representatives, including one of many red-hot Reds rookies in Matt McLain and the recently-traded José Caballero.
Moving back to the bottom of the 30+ HR column, I was excited to be able to use Cal Raleigh, one of my favorite players in the league. He’s a young, well-known (but underrated) catcher who has only played for one team, so his Grid value is limited under most intersections. Known as “Big Dumper” for reasons I’ll let you discover on your own, Raleigh swatted exactly 30 bombs in 2023, a season where he was also an absolute stud on my fantasy team.
Big Fly
In case you didn’t know, 1938 is a long time ago. Well, I guess it depends on how you define “long,” because it is a relative term by its nature. It’s also not all that close to 1887, the Cincinnati Reds’ first year as a professional baseball franchise.
A pioneer of the league in this way, the Reds took almost 50 years to host a player that would reach a certain mark. Not so pioneering anymore. This fate shifted on a sunny September 4th in the team’s home state of Ohio. Facing the Chicago Cubs at the end of a three game series, the Reds, at 70-56, were hoping to extend their slight standings lead over the visiting team. The Cubs, on the other hand, were trying to close the gap, as they sat at a 68-58 record, just two games behind Cincy.
When the Reds entered the bottom of the ninth losing 1-0, they were also just hoping to scratch at least one run across home plate to keep the game going. Chicago pitcher Charlie Root had been excellent all day, keeping the Cincinnati bats quiet and only surrendering a handful of hits and walking catcher Ernie Lombardi twice. Leading off the bottom of the ninth was left fielder Wally Berger. A paltry 0-4 on the day so far, Berger was eager to change the scorecard and make his way safely to first. But he failed to reach, bringing right fielder Ival Goodman to the plate with no men on base. With only one run to make up, Goodman decided to do the hard work himself and sent a Root pitch over the center field wall to tie the game. Though the Reds would go on to lose this game in the 11th inning (in a game that still finished in 2 hours and 9 minutes!), Goodman's long ball was good for his 30th home run of the season–the first such season in Reds history.
Spotlight Player
We’re flying to the West Coast for today’s feature, selecting from the SEA-SDP intersection for no particular reason. My pick of the day: Bret Boone.
Here’s Boone’s breakdown for the Grid:
Played for SEA, CIN, ATL, SDP, MIN
All-Star: SEA x2, CIN x1
Silver Slugger: SEA x2
Gold Glove: SEA x3, CIN x1
.300 AVG Season: SEA x, CIN x1
100+ RBI Season: SEA x3
100+ Run Season: SEA x2, ATL x1
200+ Hit Season: SEA x1
Thanks for reading and Go Braves,
CN
*All statistics and historical information are pulled from Baseball Reference, unless otherwise noted.