The Immaculate Grid Is the Hottest Thing in Baseball
They are indelible All-Star snapshots, midsummer memories for a sport steeped in tradition: a boyish Ted Williams clapping in delight after his walk-off homer in Detroit; a triumphant Tony Gwynn sliding in for the winning run in Pittsburgh; a stately Cal Ripken Jr. blasting a homer in his All-Star farewell in Seattle.
Those Hall of Famers — like Stan Musial, Derek Jeter and so many other greats — had something in common: Except for the All-Star Game, they never changed teams. That singular identity gives their stars extra glimmer, but largely removes them from a new game sweeping the baseball landscape.
The name is Immaculate Grid, and with apologies to the surging Atlanta Braves — who had eight selections for the National League’s team in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Seattle — it’s the hottest thing going in the sport.
The grid — named for the immaculate inning, in which a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches — is a daily quiz in the form of a tic-tac-toe board designed by Brian Minter, a software developer in suburban Atlanta. He said the game averages about 200,000 players every weekday.
Source: The New York Times
