Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Brett Wallace was the 13th overall pick of 2008 draft, taken by the Cardinals out of Arizona State. In 2009 he was traded twice: July 2009: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics in a package for for Matt Holliday. December 2009: Traded by the Oakland Athletics[…]
Troy Johnston was drafted by the Marlins in the 17th round of the 2019 draft out of Gonzaga. In 2019 he hit .330/.402/.610 with 10 HR for Gonzaga. He has almost as many walks (20) as K (26). The Marlins assigned him to Low-A to start his pro career and[…]
The Philadelphia Phillies signed Vicente Padilla in 1998, an international free agent from Nicaragua. He made the majors in 1999 and would spend 14 seasons in the big leagues. During his peak in the big leagues, roughly from 2002-2009, he was a classic #3 starter. Eating up 200 innings and[…]
Back in 2012, Jose Lopez was a Cleveland Indian. Over 213 at-bats he hit .249/.272/.366 with 4 HR. Even though he was only 28 years old his career was all but over. He was released by the Tribe in August and has been out of baseball ever since. But he[…]
Brad Lincoln was the 4th overall pick of the 2006 draft out of the University of Houston. I followed him because of his college career, particularly his junior season in 2016. He went 12-2 with a 1.69 ERA/0.96 WHIP. He struck out 152 over 127.2 innings. Very impressive numbers. He[…]
Jason Grilli was the 4th overall pick of the 1997 draft, selected by the Giants out of Seton Hall. He would spend 15 seasons in the majors, the vast majority of it pitching out of the pen. Retired with a 34-37 record/79 saves, with a 4.22 ERA/1.367 WHIP. His best[…]
I got this autograph in 2014 while Reyes was with the Padres Low-A team. Franmi Reyes has pop. Since making the majors with the Padres in 2018 he has gotten 755 at-bats in the majors and has hit .260/.321/.507 with 53 HR. This past summer, after being traded to the[…]
Matt Murton was the Red Sox first-round pick back in 2003. He was not with the organization long, being part of the package that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in 2003. He was well thought of as a prospect, ranking in ranking the Red Sox #5 prospect in 2003,[…]
I wrote the Taylor Harbin while he was playing for Clemson University back in 2007. I really like Clemson and wrote to their players a lot back then. That season Harbin hit .296/.343/.510 with 11 HR. He was a solid mid-range draft prospect. He was drafted in the 8th round[…]
Pitcher Kade Strowd was drafted out of West Virginia University in the 12th round of the 2019 draft by Baltimore. His numbers in college were not great. Over three seasons he carried a 5.31 ERA/1.591 WHIP. And while he gave up plenty of hits and walks, he also struck out[…]