Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Scott Baker was the Twins 2nd round pick of the 2003 draft. He made the majors in 2005 and would spend 10-seasons in the big leagues. He was never an ace, but he was a very solid starting pitcher for Twins, especially from 2008-2010 when he averaged 181 IP and[…]
Aaron Laffey spent eight seasons in the big leagues. He was a decent pitching prospect–he opened up the 2008 season as the Indians #5 overall prospect–but he never really found any sustained success in the majors. The Indians traded him away in March 2011 for minor league outfielder Matt Lawson,[…]
Alex Gordon had a very nice 14-season career in the big leagues. The Royals drafted him 2nd overall in the 2005 draft, and he would make the majors just two seasons later. He was selected to three All-Star teams and won eight Gold Gloves, and retired with a line of[…]
Cole Irvin was purchased by the Oakland Athletics from the Philadelphia Phillies in early 2021. Irvin saw some time with the Phillies in both 2019 and 2020, but he didn’t pitch particularly well in either the starter or pen roles he was handed. But the A’s inserted him into their[…]
This is one of my Top 50 favorite autographs in my collection–I wrote the J.D. Martin a bunch over the years, and for whatever reason it was not until late in his career I was finally able to snag one TTM. JD Martin was the Indians 2001 first round pick,[…]
I was very happy to get this Barry Zito autograph in 2015, his final season in baseball. Zito is on my shortlist of all time favorite pitchers, mostly for his time as one of the Oakland “Big Three” that included Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. While in Oakland, Zito was[…]
Homer Bailey was a huge prospect while he was coming up with the Reds, and many had him pegged as a future ace. While he had a very nice 14-season career in the majors, he never was able to find the consistency to be a true #1 starter. He was[…]
Ramon Hernandez had a 15-season career in the big leagues. He debuted in 1999 with the Oakland Athletics, by the time he retired following the 2013 season he had a career line of .263/.327/.417 with 169 HR and a 96 OPS+. He was selected to the 2003 All-Star team, his[…]
Tony Gwynn is one of my Top 5 favorite players ever. Every couple years I try to add a new autograph of his to my collection, and this is the newest, from the 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set. I was worried that the dark card and blue autograph[…]
Kosuke Fukudome was traded from the Chicago Cubs to Cleveland in July 2011. The Indians had to part ways with two prospects to get him, pitcher Carlton Smith and outfielder Abner Abreu. The 2011 Cleveland Indians, like pretty much every season since, were having trouble fielding a major-league caliber outfield.[…]