Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
I am a big fan of signed books. I normally remove the signed page and toss it in a toploader (or now, more often, an archival album). Assuming it’s signed in ballpoint and the book was even reasonably well taken care of, the autographs are normally still bold. Both blue[…]
Willie Mays was a pretty good baseball player. After 23 seasons in the big leagues, he retired with 660 HR and a line of .301/.384/.557, good for a 155 OPS+. Mays was selected to 24 All-Star teams, 12 Gold Gloves, two MVP awards, the 1951 Rookie of the Year Award,[…]
I got this autograph through the mail years ago, and it is one of my favorite pieces in my collection. Ballpoint has a bad habit of smearing when you sign cards like this, so I have no idea how he managed to sign it perfectly, put it back in the envelope, and it still comes out perfect.
I’m not a huge Phillies fan, so I sometimes fail to appreciate what a great pitcher Robin Roberts was.
Tony Gwynn. I got this autograph while he was coaching at San Diego State University. I am very happy that it held up so well over the years, and while I have gotten a couple of other Gwynn autographs over the years, this is still one of my favorite ones.[…]
I was pretty jazzed to get these Carl Yastrzemski and Eddie Murray autographs. Both are signed on what looks like autograph book paper, and in both cases with a bold, blue ballpoint pen.
I was trying to find a good Tom Seaver autograph for a couple of months…then he died. It might be a while before I can afford another. This piece is not quite as nice as I expected, but the autograph is still bold enough that I am not going[…]
Juan Marichal retired following the 1975 season with a 238-140 record.
I met George Brett once. He was drunk and not very friendly. Still, he signed a ball for me, so I won’t judge him too much. Brett had a truly amazing career: Three-time batting champion, 13-time All-Star, 1980 MVP, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999. I[…]
Jim “Catfish” Hunter was a very good pitcher. He did not have a super-long career, but it was still a fantastic one: Career record of 224-166 with a 3.26 ERA/104 ERA+ Eight-time All-Star 1974 American League Cy Young He would win five World Series–three with the Athletics and two with the[…]