Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
I have seen tons of Cleveland position prospects never pan out. In fact, even now, I just assume the worst when it comes to the organization developing good major-league hitters. Still, I think Will Benson might be special.
Justin Verlander had a fantastic 2022 season with the Houston Astros. He went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA and 0.829 WHIP, good for a 220 ERA+. Verlander also lead the league in every one of those stats.
In 1962, the Cleveland Indians Dick Donovan won 20-games. While winning 20-games is always impressive, doing it while pitching for the often offensive-challanged Cleveland Indians–who that season went 80-82–always makes it even more special.
I have no idea how good of a prospect Rangers OF Trevor Hauver is. Hauver came into this season one of the Ranger’s Top 25 prospects. Between low and high-A he hit only .220, but with showed great pop (17 HR) and great on-base skills (.387).
Justin Duchscherer had a short, but fantastic career. He was only in the majors for 8 seasons, but was selected to two All-Star teams and retired with a 139 ERA+ over 454.2 innings.
Bobby Brownlie. He was, for a hot minute, a very big deal.
Isn’t this a cool card? You can’t go wrong with a card signed by both Jim Thome and Roberto Alomar. The 2002 Upper Deck Vintage set is still, I think, one of the most attractive modern sets ever.
I had this card in my collection for years. Then I had an opportunity to get in on a private signing and decided to send this card in. It came out pretty OK.
Cal Poly visited Hawaii a couple of years ago, and pitcher Taylor Dollard was on their roster. He was a well thought of prospect, and I was able to get his autograph. He would go on to be drafted by Seattle in the 5th round of the 2020 draft.
Carlos Beltran had a fantastic career and was a borderline Hall of Fame player.