Players who played for the Cubs and Phillies | Immaculate Grid Answers for Grid 120 July 31, 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 Cubs and Phillies. There were 320 players who played with both Chicago and Philadelphia. Here are some examples:

Jake Arrieta

Jake Arrieta was 6-1 with a 1.61 ERA as a high school junior and had a 5-4, 1.30 record as a senior. The Cincinnati Reds chose him in the 31st round of the 2004 amateur draft but he opted for college. He went 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA as a freshman at Weatherford Junior College. The Milwaukee Brewers picked him in the 26th round of the 2005 amateur draft but again he spurned the professional ranks. Instead, he spent the summer with the McKinney Marshalls, crafting a 4-3, 1.87 mark with 38 hits allowed in 62 2/3 innings. Baseball America rated him one of the top 10 prospects in the Texas Collegiate League. Transferring to Texas Christian University (where he studied sports psychology) for his sophomore season, he went 14-4 with a 2.35 ERA, tying Lauren Gagnier for the NCAA Division I lead in victories while finishing second in the Mountain West Conference in ERA, .11 behind Danny Herrera (the two would split Mountain West Pitcher of the Year honors). Arrieta was named a second-team All-American by Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Antonio Alfonseca

Antonio Alfonseca was born with 6 toes on each foot and 6 fingers on each hand, earning him the nickname “El Pulpo”.

As a rookie in 1997, he was a key contributor to the World Champion Florida Marlins. He was one of the few players not to be sold away in the ensuing tear down, winning the National League Rolaids Relief Award in 2000 with the Fish behind a league-leading 45 saves (despite a bloated 4.24 ERA).

He was dealt to the Chicago Cubs during spring training 2002, weeks after a bizarre incident in which he confronted manager Jeff Torborg’s son Dale, a 6’6″, 270 lb. former professional wrestler and star of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as “The KISS Demon”, following a request to be weighed due to the conditions of an off-season surgery Antonio had undergone. Diminishing returns as a closer plus a 2003 suspension for bumping an umpire with his belly during a game at Wrigley Field hastened Alfonseca’s departure from Chicago and ultimately his decline. He was finished after the 2007 season, his fourth straight with a different team. During his career, he primarily wore number 57.

Terry Adams

Terry Adams was primarily a big league reliever who saw his greatest success as a starter. In his lone season as a rotation component, he finished 12-8 with a 4.33 ERA and a 3.09 FIP in 43 games (22 starts), good for a 4.3 fWAR with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001. He signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies the next season and returned to his prior level of performance and, eventually, exclusive bullpen work. He primarily wore number 51 during his career.

Kyle Schwarber

Kyle Schwarber was selected by the Chicago Cubs and scout Stan Zielinski in the first round of the 2014 amateur draft with the fourth overall pick, out of Indiana University. He was considered a bit of an overdraft at the time and when he soon signed for $3.125 million, his bonus was well below the projected amount for his draft slot. He made his pro debut with the Boise Hawks and also played for the Kane County Cougars and Daytona Cubs that first season, combining for a batting line of .344/.428/.534 in 72 games, with 18 doubles, as many homers, 55 runs scored and 53 RBIs. Obviously on a fast track to the majors, at the start of the 2015 season, he was with the AA Tennessee Smokies where he hit .320 in his first 58 games, with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs. On June 15th, Cubs President Theo Epstein announced that he would be called up to Chicago the next day to serve as the team’s designated hitter during a six-game string of interleague games on the road.

Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd played fifteen seasons in the majors. A 2010 National League All-Star, he may be better known for serving two suspensions for PEDs.

Drafted in the 10th round of the 1999 amateur draft out of Georgia Perimeter Junior College by the Philadelphia Phillies, Marlon began his minor league career with the 1999 Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, hitting .296/~.369/.535 and leading the team in homers (13) and RBI (50). Third in the league in home runs, he was named to the All-Star team at DH. In 2000, Marlon played for the Piedmont Boll Weevils and posted a .309/.375/.515 line. Strong across the board, he scored 104 runs, rapped 13 triples, cracked 17 homers, drove in 93 and stole 41 bases in 46 tries. He led the South Atlantic League in triples, extra-base hits (59) and total bases (265), was sixth in average and made the league’s All-Star team in the outfield. Selected by Baseball America as Philadelphia’s 10th-best prospect entering 2001, Byrd almost joined Jeromy Burnitz as the second 30-30 man in Eastern League history. Named MVP for his work for the Reading Phillies, he led the loop’s outfielders in fielding percentage (.994) and hit .316/.386/.555. He stole 32 bases in 37 attempts, scored 108 runs and homered 28 times. BA ranked him, after the year, as the second-best EL prospect (after Josh Beckett), the top Philadelphia prospect and the second-best outfield prospect in all of baseball (after Joe Borchard).

All 320 Players

You can see all 320 players who played with both Chicago and Philadelphia on Baseball Reference. Good luck with your grid!

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