Sports column: Linking to the past with Immaculate Grid – The Vicksburg Post

Have you ever heard of George Metkovich? How about Muddy Ruel? Roger Peckinpaugh or Stuffy McInnis ring a bell?
Me either, until an insanely fun internet time-waster called “Immaculate Grid” came into my life.

If you haven’t discovered this yet, it’s a fun daily game for sports nerds. There are nine boxes on a grid and team logos or stat categories across the top and bottom. You have to pick a player who fits each box — for example, someone who played for the Mets and Pirates, or was an all-star for the Braves.

The object is to get all nine right without missing, since you only get nine guesses. At the end, you get a “rarity score” based on how many people named the same players you did and how many guesses you missed. The lower the score, the better, although there is no official ranking.

There are a half-dozen versions for different sports, including Major League Baseball, the NFL and NBA. My favorite is the baseball one.

Having collected a lot of old baseball cards as a kid, an almost encyclopedic knowledge of 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s MLB rosters still inhabits my brain. However, the real fun of Immaculate Grid is the rabbit holes it takes you down.

When I play, I admit that I cheat a bit. I’ll think of a player who might fit in a box, then check my answer against the BaseballReference.com database so I don’t waste a guess. I’m playing for the rarity score, not the perfect score. Sometimes it’ll lead me off on tangents — teammates of a player I was checking, players with a similar name, or a guy with a funny name.

That’s how I learned about George Metkovich, an outfielder who played with six teams in 11 seasons from 1943-54. He was never an all-star, but literally checks a lot of boxes in this game.

Trying to find obscure Minnesota Twins players led me to check on the 1924 Washington Senators. The team moved to Minnesota in 1961 and its old-timers from the Senators can be used as Twins in Immaculate Grid. The Senators won the 1924 World Series, making them fertile ground for Grid stars, and a check did not disappoint.

Muddy Ruel, Roger Peckinpaugh and Nemo Leibold, their catcher, shortstop and right fielder, respectively, all had long careers and memorable names that make them ideal for Immaculate Grid.

Stuffy McInnis, a first baseman for the A’s and several other teams, was a borderline Hall of Famer who fit a lot of those same categories — obscure enough to be forgotten a century after he played, but with a great name and resumé that are easy to remember once you learn them. Typing his name into Baseball Reference’s search bar also leads you to Stuffy Stewart, a less-accomplished player who nonetheless is an Immaculate Grid all-star.

That’s the real magic of this wonderful game, is finding a connection to the past. Baseball has been played professionally in the U.S. for about 150 years, the NFL for a little over 100, and the NBA for about 75. They’ve all got rich histories that are woven into the fabric of our culture. We all remember some guys who played for this team or that. Immaculate Grid helps bring not only their memories back to life for a fleeting moment, but our own as well.

Time to check out today’s grid. I’m hoping today’s the day I can fill it with guys named “Grover.”

•

Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post’s sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post’s sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper’s 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

More by Ernest