Players who played for the Astros and Mets | Immaculate Grid Answers Jul 26, 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 Astros and Mets. There were 130 players who played with both Houston and New York. Here are some examples:

Jesús Alou

Jesús Alou played 15 years in the majors.

The younger brother of big leaguers Felipe Alou and Matty Alou, Jesús followed his brothers’ career path and was signed by San Francisco Giants scouts Frank Genovese and Horacio Martinez in late 1958. Originally a pitcher, he gave up 11 earned runs in just 5 innings in his first pro season with the Hastings Giants in 1959 but did go 2-for-3 at the plate. After an arm injury, Artesia Giants manager George Genovese (scout Frank’s brother) moved him to the outfield in 1960, and he responded by hitting .352 with 11 home runs. Alou moved up to the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League in 1961, hitting .336 and leading the circuit with 174 hits.

Jake Marisnick

Jake Marisnick made his major league debut in 2013 after having been considered a top prospect for some time before that.

He was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the third round of the 2009 amateur draft; the scout was Rick Ingalls. The 104th overall selection, the pick was compensation for the loss of A.J. Burnett to free agency. He made his pro debut the following summer with the GCL Blue Jays and hit .287/.373/.459 in 35 games then was promoted to the Lansing Lugnuts, for whom he batted only .220/.298/.339 in 34 contests. Overall, he had 23 steals in 26 tries and registered 8 outfield assists. Baseball America named him the top athlete in the Jays system and as the #4 prospect in the Gulf Coast League (behind Gary Sanchez, Miguel Sano and Justin O’Conner.

Kevin Bass

Kevin Bass was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 1977 amateur draft and first came up to the majors with Milwaukee at the start of the 1982 season. He served mainly as a defensive substitute in the outfield and went hitless in 18 games in a Brewer uniform. Sent back to the minors, he was included in a trade with the Houston Astros that September that brought veteran starting pitcher Don Sutton to Milwaukee for the Brewers’ playoff push. Kevin collected his first major league hit with the Astros on September 8 but overall went 1 for 33 in 1982 for a dreadful .030 batting average.

Richard Hidalgo

Richard Hidalgo‘s 2001 season was not nearly as good as his 2000 campaign, he still started 2001 6 for 12 at the plate with 3 home runs, 1 triple, 1 double, 4 runs scored, 10 runs batted in and a 1.500 slugging percentage.

Again showing off his power with the New York Mets in 2004, Hidalgo hit 8 home runs in his first 16 games with the team, including 5 home runs against the New York Yankees. He set the Mets record by homering in five straight games from July 1st to July 5th – and he had not even been a Met for three weeks.

The Houston Astros, fearful of losing him, protected Richard over a lesser regarded young outfielder in advance of the 1997 expansion draft. That other outfielder was Bobby Abreu, who ended up with the Philadelphia Phillies (by way of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and whose career ended up eclipsing Richard’s by quite some margin.

José Vizcaíno

José Vizcaíno had the game-winning hit in Game 1 of the 2000 World Series between the New York Yankees and New York Mets.

In 2013, Vizcaíno was a “Special Assistant, Player Personnel” for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a position he had held since at least 2008.

His son Jose Vizcaino Jr. was selected in the 7th round of the 2015 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants.

All 130 Players

You can see all 130 players who played with both Houston and New York on Baseball Reference. Good luck with your grid!

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