Grid 228

ONLY ONE TEAMs are tough; plus what's the secret to the incredible mystery of Ken Sanders?

TIM: I finally applied Seattle Pilots thinking to a Milwaukee Brewers box. Sadly, it was the only square that netted me a sub-1% rarity score.

Here I thought I was going to get super low marks by not going with the obvious high-percentage guys in the ONLY ONE TEAM column. I figured there weren’t going to be very many options there, not thinking about the fact that every rookie and guy that had a cup of coffee and disappeared would count. It’s only that bottom right corner where a longtime one-team player is a given.

Still, not bad. I figured everyone would choose Ernie Banks for top right (he is the top answer, but under 50%) and clearly Cub fans abound and know the Mark Priors and Roosevelt Browns and myriad Wrigley September callup flameouts. Likewise Milwaukee’s obvious choice is Robin Yount, but his percentage was somehow under 40. I landed on Higuera because of a previous attempt to use him in the Grid and screwing it up, though I don’t recall the details of that instance now. Did I confuse him with Dan Plesac maybe? Whatever it was, I knew now that Higuera was a Brewer and only a Brewer.

Edgar deserves more than 1%. Alas. There are several guys that immediately come to mind there, though, and even with me Edgar’s wasn’t the first name I thought of. Top answer is, of course, your favorite Yankee (20%). Then there’s Banks, George Brett, Gibby, Tony Gwynn, Clemente. If you think about it for a minute you can come up with lots more—Ripken, Yaz, Koufax, Puckett, Schmidt—yet I was still surprised to see the number of possible correct answers there was 69. I shouldn’t be, though. Free agency hasn’t even been here 50 years yet, most of the Hall is guys who played before then.

Anyway, remembering my comment from the other day about how I never go to the Pilots when the Brewers show up, I tried a not-quite-blind guess with Diego Segui, he of the Pilot/Mariner crossbox should there ever be one. I had a recollection from something of Segui having been traded to the Sox. Which Sox? Well, it’s a coin flip. And hey, it worked. :)

MIL/TEX was a bear, though. I didn’t want to use Nellie just ’cause we use him all the time, but I had nothing else. In looking at the list of possibles the only name that I might have known is Rick Helling; the one I did a double-take on was Justin Smoak. Smoak was a Brewer? Yep, but in 2020, so maybe that doesn’t count. They cut him, he hooked up with the Giants for a couple games, they cut him, and he went to Tokyo.

Rice was disappointingly popular here. Again, figuring the masses would go with Yaz and Williams and Ortiz, it seemed like a good choice. I probably should have gone with someone not known for a career with the Red Sox. Like Rickey, or Lee Smith. Next time.

No surprise in the MVP announcements today. Shohei and Acuna leaving everyone else in the dust. Both first and second place unanimous choices save for one AL voter who thought Kyle Tucker was more crucial than Corey Seager. Weirdo. Surely that’s never happened before…?

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ERIK: I like how you’re all “Damn, Rice and Prior are way too popular at 6 and 7%!” but with Edgar it’s like “One percent!! What’s the matter with you people? Don’t you know GENIUS when you see it?” A true Mariners fan. As if there was any doubt.

So with 2/3 of the grid done I was working on a rarity score of 3%, and semi-eyeing my record of whatever it is, 8 or 9%, but nah, those “Only One Team”ers are tough. I mean HOFer, sure, or Twins and Mariners, yes please, but Brewers and Cubs? Esqueeze me?

For the Cubs one, rather than the obvious (Ernie B., as you say), I thought, like you, of the sad short career of Mark Prior, and was happy that it wasn’t wrong—but the 7% meant no chance at the record. So at that point, whatevs, right? Instead of Fergie, my go-to for Rangers/Cubs, I went with Sammy to mix it up. And for Only Brewers, I tried another short-lived guy: 1992 ROY Pat Listach. I was about 40% sure he wound up with another team but I couldn’t think of anyone else to put there, beyond Yount and Braun, so I pulled the trigger. *Click* Fifty-two games with the Astros in 1997.

Diego Segui wound up center square for me because I remembered he played for all of those hapless 1960s AL teams that moved: KC A’s, Seattle Pilots, Washington Senators II. Plus, of course, that other Seattle team (us). Plus the 1967 World Series (Cards, BoSox). It’s not much of a hack, but it’s all I’ve got.

Glad, too, I remembered Minnie Minoso. I’d been looking up the early years of Senators II, as one does, and came across his name. He was there one season, 1963, hit .229 with four homers, which wasn’t even good enough for those Senators. Then he had a half season back in Chicago. Then the stunt work of 1976 and 1980 for Veeck as in Wreck. Helluva ballplayer. Didn’t realize how good he was until Poz started writing about him.

So who’s the guy who looks like Bob Odenkirk caught farting close to the hot blonde? Glad you asked! You remember this headline, right? This day of national tragedy?

I’ve already introduced you to Joe Lis, one of those three Phillies. Well, Ken Sanders is another one. (Yes, I plan to collect all three.) For several years, he kept being part of one multi-player trade after another:

• 1966: Red Sox —> KC A’s (six-player deal)

• 1970: A’s —> Pilots/Brewers (six-player deal)

• 1972: Brewers —> Phillies (seven-player deal)

• 1972: Phillies —> Twins (four-player deal) (Yes, he never played for the Phillies)

God, I wish I could remember all the guys in all those trades. What a bounty.

As for today’s MVPs: Yes, I wasn’t sure if Shohei would lose some votes because he missed much of the final month, but the BBWAA did it right. Speaking of: My wife saw this walking around Capitol Hill yesterday:

We can dream.