Players who played for the Mariners and Blue Jays | Immaculate Grid Answers for Grid 121 August 1, 2023

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 Mariners and Blue Jays. There were 117 players who played with both Toronto and Seattle. Here are some examples:

John Olerud

John Olerud was an All-Star, Gold Glove first-baseman who spent the bulk of his 17-year big league career in the American League. A lifetime .295 hitter, he was the 1993 American League batting champion with the Toronto Blue Jays, and owns two World Series rings earned starring with the Jays in 1992 and 1993.

Olerud came up with Toronto as a 20 year-old rookie in 1989. In an extremely lopsided trade he was dealt eight years later to the New York Mets for Robert Person, a 27-year-old future journeyman who was then an undistinguished 5-5 with a 4.07 ERA just two years into his career. Olerud’s days in Toronto were highlighted by a .363 BA, 24 HR, 107 RBI, 54 double 1993 campaign, in which he led the AL in OBP (.473), OPS (1.072), and OPS+ (189) in addition to batting average and doubles. He was a regular on the great 2001 Seattle Mariners team that won 116 games, hitting .302 with 21 home runs.

Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel played 24 seasons in the major leagues and set a number of longevity records at shortstop. He was originally signed as a free agent for the Seattle Mariners by scout Marty Martinez on April 1, 1984.

Vizquel won nine Gold Gloves with the Cleveland Indians. In 2005, he won his first National League Gold Glove while playing for the San Francisco Giants and repeated the feat the following season. He has the best fielding percentage for a shortstop in history, and in 2007, passed Ozzie Smith for most double plays. Vizquel tied and passed fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio for career games at the position in the two games of a May 25, 2008 doubleheader against the Florida Marlins. In 2009, Vizquel became the third player in major league history to play shortstop at age 42, following Luke Appling (1949) and Honus Wagner (1916). That season, he also passed Aparicio for most hits by a player born in Venezuela.

Vizquel had over 12,000 major league plate appearances, putting him at #17 on the all-time list when he retired. Most of the players near him on the list are in the Hall of Fame.

Vizquel is a drummer who did a rendition of the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Broadway” on a CD of songs performed by baseball players.

Justin Smoak

Justin Smoak was the 11th player selected in the 2008 amateur draft, taken by the Texas Rangers. He came to the majors less than two years later.

R.A. Dickey

R.A. Dickey was a star pitcher at the University of Tennessee and won a bronze medal for the United States at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA as Team USA‘s ace in the 1994 Baseball World Cup but walked 8 in 14 1/3 IP.

After they drafted Dickey in the first round of the 1996 amateur draft, the Texas Rangers‘ medical staff discovered that he was missing a crucial tendon in his throwing elbow, and that it was unexplainable that he could pitch at any level with such a condition. They offered him only a nominal contract, fully expecting that he would break down in short order. However, his arm held up and he managed to reach the major leagues in 2001. He was a regular member of the team’s pitching staff in 2003 and 2004 as a swingman, although he never managed to post an ERA under 5.00. He began to experiment with throwing a knuckleball after that. He made the Rangers’ staff at the beginning of 2006 but in his sole appearance on the mound on April 6th, he gave up 6 home runs, one less than Charlie Sweeney‘s all-time record, to earn a ticket back to AAA.

J.A. Happ

J.A. Happ was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the third round of the 2004 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Bob Szymkowski and made his pro debut that summer with the Batavia Muckdogs. After splitting the next season between the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Reading Phillies, he made three stops in 2006: the Clearwater Threshers, Reading again, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. He began 2007 with the Ottawa Lynx and was called up to the majors to make a start for the Phillies on June 30th. He gave up five earned runs in four innings against the New York Mets and was then returned to AAA.

All 117 Players

You can see all 117 players who played with both Toronto and Seattle on Baseball Reference. Good luck with your grid!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 1st, 2023 at 9:00 am and 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.