Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Mitch Keller was a 2nd round pick of the Pirates back in 2014. He was a high school selection out of Iowa. Baseball America rated him the Pirates #12 prospect coming into the season. And he will probably be higher on the next list. This season, spent mostly between AA[…]
I got this autograph in 2016 during the Eastern League All-Star game. I remember it was one of the few that I was able to snag at that nightmare event. Jorge Alfaro has been a prospect for a long time, ranking as one of baseballs Top 100 since roughly 2014.[…]
I got this autograph in 2016 from a Texas League All-Star game consignment. At the time I did not know too much about Paul DeJong. I was sorting some cards this weekend and found it. He made the majors in 2017 and was fantastic, hitting .285/.325/.532 with 25 HR for[…]
Eddie Basinski spent three seasons in the major leagues. From 1944-1945 with the Dodgers and 1947 with the Pirates. He was never a full-time player and he would slash .244/.292/.319 with 4 HR over 602 at-bats–good for an OPS+ of 68. But don’t let anyone tell you he was not[…]
Brandon Nimmo is a really good player. This season–his third in the big leagues and first as a full-time player–saw him hit .263/.404/.483 with 17 HR, good for an OPS+ of 150. Nimmo was a first-round pick back in 2011 and has generally been considered one of the better hitting[…]
I never really appreciated how great John Smoltz was until recently. I blame that partially on the fact that I grew up a Cleveland fan, and after the 1995 season tried to not think too much about the Braves. But Smoltz…man. He was really good. Good enough that after reading[…]
Kevin Pillar is not a terrible player. He is not great, but you could do a whole lot worse. This season he hit .252/.282/.426 with 15 HR–good for an OPS+ of 93. His defense in centerfield is good, though this year he seemed to lose a step. At 30 it[…]
Wally Post was a really great player for the Reds’s in the 1950’s–so much so that he was inducted into the Cincinnati Hall of Fame in 1965. But if you are not a fan of the Reds there is a good chance that you have never heard of him. While[…]
Vince Fernandez was drafted out of UC Riverside in the 10th round of the 2016 draft by the Colorado Rockies. He was a very solid D1 player, showing good pop and on-base skills. He hit .350/.431/.509 with 8 HR during his junior season prior to the draft. I was lucky[…]
I got this J.J. Matijevic autograph back in 2016 while the University of Arizona was playing here in Hawaii. My notes at the time: This weekend Arizona is visiting Hawaii…and the series is not going well for Hawaii. There are a couple Arizona players that have really impressed me on the[…]