Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Willie Mays was a pretty good baseball player. After 23 seasons in the big leagues, he retired with 660 HR and a line of .301/.384/.557, good for a 155 OPS+. Mays was selected to 24 All-Star teams, 12 Gold Gloves, two MVP awards, the 1951 Rookie of the Year Award,[…]
Card: 2021 Onyx Vintage Extended Kevin Parada Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada had a very nice 2022 season, hitting .361/.453/.709 with 26 HR. He is easily one of the best catchers in the country, and a top 10 draft prospect for the upcoming draft. There are some questions if he[…]
The Card: 1972 Topps Jim “Mudcat” Grant Being a fan of both the Cleveland and Oakland organizations, it’s nice when a player plays for both franchises at some point. It’s even better when that player was good, and Mudcat Grant was certainly that too. Mudcat Grant made the majors in[…]
Luis Arraez was never ranked as one of the Twin’s Top 10 prospects as he was moving up through the system. This is insane when you consider what he has accomplished at the major league level.
I really liked Texas Rangers-era Mark Teixeira. During his rookie season, he was on a Rangers team that was filled with players that are some of my all-time favorites, including Einar Diaz, Alex Rodriguez, Hank Blalock, Ryan Christenson, Juan Gonzalez, and Ryan Ludwick. That was a fun team.
I was a fan of Jeremy Sowers while he was pitching at Vanderbilt, and was excited when Cleveland drafted him with the 6th overall pick of the 2004 draft.
Logan Allen was Cleveland’s 2nd round pick in the 2020 draft, out of Florida International University. This season Allen is pitching at AA Akron and is having a fantastic campaign, going 5-3 with a 3.33 ERA and 104 K’s in 73 IP. In fact, he is so good that just[…]
Justin Verlander is when it comes to autographs, an unpleasant person. But gosh, he sure is a good pitcher.
I got this autograph through the mail years ago, and it is one of my favorite pieces in my collection. Ballpoint has a bad habit of smearing when you sign cards like this, so I have no idea how he managed to sign it perfectly, put it back in the envelope, and it still comes out perfect.
I’m not a huge Phillies fan, so I sometimes fail to appreciate what a great pitcher Robin Roberts was.