Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
SP Joey Cantillo is one of Cleveland’s better pitching prospects, ranking the organization’s #15 prospect entering the season. This is cool since not only is he in my hometown’s organization, but he was originally drafted by the Padres in the 16th round of the 2017 draft out of High School in Kailua, Hawaii. I actually got his autograph at a University of Hawaii game in 2016.
Nolan Arenado has long been one of my favorite National League players, so it was nice to see him have such a fantastic 2022 season. He ended the campaign with 34 HR and a 154 OPS+, which is the highest OPS+ of his career.
Brady Clark was one of the first autographs I ever got when I got into collecting back in the early-2000s. Last month there was a private signing for him, and I was able to send two cards in. It was a nice chance to finally get his autograph on a nice item.
Today there was a scrimmage between prep players from Oahu and the Big Island. It was a low-eye event at Central Oahu park, so the fact that I had to drive like 10 minutes to get there was nice. And it only took me about 20 minutes to get the player that I wanted, Punahou infielder Nolan Souza.
You could write a book about Bryan Shaw’s career in Cleveland. Good and bad.
By now you have heard about Barry Bonds and the Hall of Fame. This past week, Bonds failed to get the requisite 12 votes from the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 16-person Today’s Game Era committee. So he won’t be gettting enshrined anytime soon.
Josh L. Bell was a prospect in the Dodgers organization in the mid-2000s, and in many ways was a similar prospect to the Guard’s new first baseman. Josh Bell.
Trea Turner has a fantastic 2022 season. With the Dodgers, he hit .298/.343/.466 with 21 HR and 27 stolen bases. Good for a 121 OPS+. He also got his second All-Star selection.
Here is it, my first real through-the-mail autograph.
Cleveland Baseball Minor League Collection: 1983 TCMA Lynchburg Mets Dwight Gooden Man, Dwight Gooden was an amazing pitcher there for a hot minute. It’s still crazy to look at his stats. At his peak, which I will say was from 1984-1993, he went 154-81 with a 118 ERA+ and 1.169[…]