Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Christian Koss is having a very nice junior season at UC Irvine. The infielder is hitting .240/.383/.427 with 3 HR. Good numbers, and even better when you remember that he is a shortstop. Baseball America rated him the Big West best draft prospect of 2019, and he is doing nothing[…]
Aaron Hicks was the 14th overall pick of the 2008 draft by the Minnesota Twins. From 2008 to 2012 he was rated one of the Twins Top 10 prospects, including twice as their #1 (2008 and 2009), and generally considered one of the better prospects in baseball. He projected to[…]
Brandon Lewis is having a brilliant junior season with UC Irvine, hitting .325/.406/.783 with 10 HR. Those are fantastic numbers, especially considering this is his first season in D1 ball–he is a transfer from L.A. Pierce College. That said…it should not be a huge shock. Last summer he played for[…]
Brett Gardner has been in the big leagues for 12 seasons and been a consistent performer for the Yankees. Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2005 draft out of the College of Charleston by the New York Yankees. Made the majors in 2008 and has spent 12 seasons in[…]
I got this card two years ago, part of a Spring Training consignment. Paul Goldschmidt is…just a great player. Especially when you consider that he was drafted in the 8th round (2009). Eight seasons in the big leagues and he has yet to have a bad campaign. The lowest OPS+[…]
I wrote to Adam Eaton during Spring Training in 2015 and got this card back. He swapped out cards on me, but this ended up looking better than the sweet spot card I was trying to get done. I am very happy with it and its one of my favorite[…]
Grayson Greiner was drafted by the Tigers in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft out of the University of South Carolina. He made his major league debut this past season and hit .219/.328/.281 over 96 at-bats with the big league club. Good for a 70 OPS+. Coming out of[…]
While I don’t think you could call me a Baltimore Orioles fan, I really like those late-60’s and early 70’s teams. Robinson was a huge part of those teams. All told he had a hell of a career: Robinson was famous for his defense–in case his nickname, “The Human Vacum[…]
Bobby Abreu. I have no idea how this dude only made two All-Star teams. During his peak–which was from 1998 to 2011–he hit .295/.399/.484 and averaged 20 HR and 28 stolen bases. That is good for an OPS+ of 131. His 61.6 career WAR ranks 93rd all time. I am[…]
Frank Thomas was a very good player. I think some people forget how good. In 19 seasons in the big leagues, Frank Thomas hit .301/.419/.555, hitting 521 HR. He retired with an OPS+ of 156 and OPS of .974. He accumulated 73.9 WAR. He was selected to five All-Star games,[…]