MLB players are a creature of habit. That’ll happen when you embark on a 162-game marathon over a period of six months. But for many baseball fans, we now have a new daily ritual that won’t stop once the final out of the World Series is recorded. While Sports Reference has created the Immaculate Grid for multiple sports, the baseball version is the OG. So, I thought it’d be a good idea to put together an MLB Immaculate Grid study guide of sorts.
How this is used is obviously completely up to you. If you’d like to use it while you’re playing the game, it’s certainly within your right to do so. But I’ll be using it as a way to brush up on various parts of MLB history so I’m ready to (hopefully) crush the grid each morning when it gets released at 9 a.m. ET.
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Watching a player hit 40 home runs in a season doesn’t feel like an uncommon occurrence. But in the grand scheme of the game’s history, it really is. Professional baseball has been around in some form for 150-ish years. When looking at American League and National League performers, there have been a total of 360 different occurrences of a 40-homer season.
But who hit them? And for what team were they playing for when it happened? Those are the details you need to study up on for the next Immaculate Grid. We’ve got you covered with this rundown of every team’s 40-homer seasons.
READ: 40 Home Run Seasons: A Look at 363 Occurrences, Team-By-Team
Entering the 2024 season, there are 159 player who have slugged at least 300 home runs during their career. Six of those players joined the club in 2023. There will be more to join momentarily, too. Get a rundown of the entire 300 Home Run Club members, along with the teams they played for and the number of homers they slugged at each stop.
READ: Everything You Need to Know About the 300 Home Run Club
Look, home runs are our favorite thing in the world. It’s why this website exists in the first place. But we go a little beyond that here. We appreciate all sorts of baseball history, especially with the goal of putting our best foot forward during the next Immaculate Grid.
The Silver Slugger Award has been around since 1980. There have been 435 different players who have won the award at least once. In the same way we covered 40-homer seasons, we took a team-by-team look at all the winners, and the year in which they took home the hardware.
READ: Silver Slugger Award: Team-By-Team Look at 435 Winners
MLB’s MVP Award has taken on a few different forms throughout baseball history. Between 1911 and 1914, players were awarded with the Chalmers Award. Then, there was a League Award handed out by the American League between 1922 and 1929.
The MVP Award as we currently know it has been getting handed out to players on an annual basis since 1931. More than 150 players have won an MVP Award at some point in their MLB career. We took a team-by-team look at all the winners and when they earned the hardware, along with some pertinent stats.
READ: MLB MVP Award: Team-By-Team Look at 160 Winners
Did you know that the Cy Young Award wasn’t always given to one pitcher in each league? Between 1956 and 1966, only one hurler in all of baseball had this honor bestowed upon them. But since 1967, the Award has been handed out in the way we see it today: one for an AL pitcher and another for an NL pitcher.
As we’ve done with other topics, click the below link to get a team-by-team look at Cy Young Award winners since its inception.
READ: Cy Young Award: Team-By-Team Look at 122 Winners
The Rookie of the Year Award has been handed out at the end of each season since 1947. It initially was given to just one player each year. But after a couple of seasons, that soon changed to being handed out to one rookie in each of the AL and NL.
Overall, 149 different players have won this honor. Click the link below to get a team-by-team look at Rookie of the Year Award winners.
READ: Rookie of the Year Award: Team-By-Team Look at 149 Winners
We’re starting a long project that will go through each MLB team’s single-season RBI leaders, similar to what we did with our single-season home run leaderboards. Each team will be listed below once it’s complete:
Entering the 500-homer club is an extraordinary achievement that every power hitter dreams about. At this moment, only 28 hitters have surpassed this number in their respective careers. Here are the members, the number of homers they hit, and the teams they played for during their time in the big leagues.
If you’re looking for guys in the 500-homer club with most teams played for, take a long look at Gary Sheffield (eight), Jim Thome (six), Manny Ramirez (five), and Frank Robinson (five).
Similar to the 500-homer club, reaching 3,000 hits is the holy grail for all hitters. Only 33 players have reached this milestone. Here are the members, the number of hits they recorded, and the teams they played for during their respective big-league tenures.
The three players who suited up for the most teams include Rickey Henderson (nine!), Dave Winfield (six), and Eddie Murray (five).
MLB’s new rule changes that went into effect for the 2023 season will likely make the 30-30 club a little less exclusive than it’s been previously. However, it’s still a special accomplishment when you can combine speed and power like this in one season.
There have been a total of 63 different 30-30 campaigns, which have been accomplished by 44 players. Here are those players, the years in which they did it, how many homers and steals they racked up, and the team they played for when it happened.
The two names you should pay extra attention to? Bobby Bonds and Alfonso Soriano. Bonds put together five different 30/30 seasons with at least four teams (he split one year with two). Meanwhile, Soriano accomplished this feat four times with three different squads.
If you skimmed the list of 30/30 players carefully, you saw there were a handful who went well above the minimum requirements for entry. Four have registered 40 homers and 40 steals in a single season: Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the verge of being the first player to accomplish this feat since 2006. We’ve got more details on each of these performances below.
READ: MLB’s 40-40 Club: All Seasons of 40 Home Runs & 40 Stolen Bases
What you see above is a good start when it comes to studying up for the MLB Immaculate Grid. Based on the sheer number of options available, there’s plenty of information to digest. But obviously, the six categories covered here are just a fraction of all the categories that can pop up on any given grid.
What’s below is not an exhaustive list, but it’s on my to-do list when it comes to creating easily digestible content so you have the tools available to crush the Immaculate Grid (and no, these categories aren’t listed in any particular order):
There will undoubtedly be more, which I will add. But, what I just listed will keep me busy for a while. If there’s anything particular you’d find helpful from a statistical category/award/accomplishment standpoint, don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know.
Want to see some homers in person this season? Of course you do. Grab MLB tickets from our friends at Vivid Seats. And before you get to the stadium, make sure you’re decked out in the right gear. Get your favorite team’s official merch from the MLB Shop or a ‘Big Dinger Energy’ shirt from our apparel store.
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