Are you hooked on Immaculate Grid, the daily trivia game from Baseball Reference? We sure are! We’ll warn you right now—this blog post contains spoilers. But if you’re looking for a little help with today’s grid (or you already filled it out and want to know who else qualified) read on.
To fill out today’s grid, you need to choose a player who played for both the Orioles and Nationals. There were 109 players who played with both Baltimore and Washington. Here are some examples:
Tony Batista
Tony Batista arrived in the major Leagues as a middle infielder, gradually becoming a feared slugger. The most remarkable thing about him was his highly unorthodox batting stance: he took his place at the very rear of the batter’s box with an exaggeratedly open stance that had him almost facing the pitcher straight on; he then would take a huge step forward as the pitch was delivered, attacking the ball with all his might, but very little control. As a result, he drew very few walks and struck out often, but he also went on torrid hitting streaks when every ball he hit would head towards fences at high velocity. Sabermetricians considered him a liability at the plate because his career on-base percentage was below .300 as a result of his lack of plate discipline, but others appreciated him because his at-bats were always highly entertaining and he piled up home runs and runs batted in.
Jim Dwyer
Jim Dwyer played 18 seasons in the majors, primarily as a platoon outfielder and pinch hitter.
Selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round of the 1971 amateur draft, Dwyer hit .387 with the Tulsa Oilers in 1973 to lead the American Association. He made his big league debut that summer and played with five different big league clubs before signing with the Baltimore Orioles prior to the 1981 season. During 8 seasons with the O’s, he became known as one of the best pinch hitters in the game, hitting 9 pinch home runs during that span. In 1982, Jim reached base 13 consecutive times from September 29 through October 2nd, including eight hits and five walks. He hit a home run in Game 1 of the 1983 World Series for the Orioles against the Philadelphia Phillies and clubbed 15 homers during the 1987 season. He ended his big league career as a 40-year-old with the Minnesota Twins in 1990.
Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Guerrero at age 29 was Willie Mays. All ten on the most similar list were Hall of Famers except for two players who were not yet eligible, Manny Ramirez and Juan Gonzalez. However, it was learned in 2009 that Guerrero was actually one year older than thought, having been born in 1975 and not 1976, making his career slightly less impressive.
His signing by the Montréal Expos is the stuff of legend. He showed up at an open tryout in the Dominican Republic in civilian clothes (his family was too poor for him to afford playing gear) and took a few swings of the bat before pulling a muscle running down the first base line. Those few swings were enough for Expos scout Arturo DeFreites to offer him a contract, in conjunction with Fred Ferreira, the team’s director of Latin American scouting, and he joined the organization on March 1, 1993. The Expos weren’t quite sure what to do with the very raw prospect at first and tried him at various positions, including having him do some pitching in the Dominican Summer League to take advantage of his tremendous right arm.
Ken Singleton
Ken Singleton, who played 15 seasons in the major leagues, was in the top three in Adjusted OPS+ in the American League each year from 1977 to 1979. His career Adjusted OPS+ ties him with Rocky Colavito, Tony Gwynn, and Mo Vaughn.
He holds the record for hits in consecutive at bats, with 10. Over the course of three games, Singleton went 4 for 4 twice (on April 26 and 27, 1981) and then hit safely in his first two at bats in a third game (on April 28) before finally hitting into a double play in his third at bat against Richard Dotson.
In 1979, Singleton became the second switch-hitter in the AL to hit 35 homers in one season, after Mickey Mantle. Since that date, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher have done the same.
Singleton finished second in MVP voting in 1979 and third in 1977. He led the National League in OBP in 1973 and the AL in times on base in 1975. He never led the league in bases on balls, but was second six times (NL 1973, AL 1975, 1977-1979, 1983).
Matt Wieters
Matt Wieters, the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year in 2008, attracted attention before he had played in the majors because of his status as a top prospect. He made his major league debut in May 2009 for the Baltimore Orioles.
He was a star for Georgia Tech and was picked fifth overall in the 2007 amateur draft by the Orioles.
Wieters is the son of Richard Wieters, who reached AA during his professional career from 1977-1981. He is also the nephew of Mike Shields, a former minor league pitcher for four years.
Matt was the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year in 2005, hitting .366/.470/.581 while going 3-3 with a 2.85 ERA on the mound. He was in the top 10 in the ACC in average and had the lowest ERA on the #11-ranked team in the country. He finished second on the club with 68 RBI, trailing top prospect Tyler Greene, a junior, by 4. Baseball America named him a freshman All-American first-teamer as a DH. For the USA College national team, he hit .237/?/.545 while playing first base so that J.P. Arencibia could catch.
All 109 Players
You can see all 109 players who played with both Baltimore and Washington on Baseball Reference. Good luck with your grid!
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 23rd, 2023 at 3:51 amand is filed under Uncategorized.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.Both comments and pings are currently closed.
