Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Very neat card: 2002 Grandstand Cliff Lee, his first minor league card. Lee went 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA with Harrisburg in 2002. In June that season he would be involved in one of the biggest–and best–trades in Cleveland Indians history. The Montreal Expos traded Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore and[…]
This is the rookie card of Indians pitcher Larry Burchart. Burchart was a 3rd round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967 and then was drafted by the Indians in the 1968 rule 5 draft. He would make his major league debut in 1969 with Cleveland, and over 42[…]
The only rookie card of the former Major League Baseball home run king. Roger Maris made his major league debut in 1957 with the Cleveland Indians, hitting .235/.344/.405 with 14 HR. The 22-year-old would carry a 105 OPS+ and looked like he was the future of the Cleveland outfield. But[…]
Nolan Jones is one of the Indians best position prospects. Jones was drafted by the Indians in the 2nd round of the 2016. Drafted out of Holy Ghost Prep HS, Philadelphia. He is having another fine season in the Cleveland organization, hitting .273/.409/.438 with 14 HR between high-A and AA[…]
Sophomore outfielder Jake Palmer had a very nice season for the UC Irvine Anteaters. Hit .307/.460/.359 over 153 at-bats Had more walks (39) than K’s (35). If you read this blog you know that I love guys who can take a walk. Not a ton of pop–he only had one[…]
Ethan DeCaster was drafted in the 18th round by the Detroit Tigers in 2018 out of Duke. In 2018 he played at four levels–from Rookie League to Advanced High A-ball. And with good reason: over 32 innings of relief work he only allowed 19 hits and struck out 39–good for[…]
Garrett Cooper was drafted by the Brewers in the sixth round of 2013 draft out of Auburn. He was a decent enough minor league hitter, but as never rated as a Top 30 prospect. Which is weird in retrospect. In 2017 the Brewers traded him to the Yankees in July[…]
Yasiel Puig was traded by the Reds to the Indians in late-July 2019. It was a huge trade for the Indians, who at the cost of one of their starting pitchers was able to plug a couple of holes in the upper levels of the organization. The Cleveland Indians lost[…]
Its always a little tough to figure out who are legit prospects when you are looking at short-season/low-A stats. Especially when they are international free agent signings. Some dudes put up some crazy numbers just to flame out when they hit affiliate or full-season ball. It’s just the way it[…]
Anthony Vizcaya is a pitcher in the Twins organization. I am not sure he is really a prospect, but he is interesting. He was signed as an international free agent by Indians in March 2012. He would spend three seasons in the organization, pitching terribly and never advancing to any[…]