Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
Mike Blowers had a nice 11-season career. I remember him best for his 1998 season with Oakland when he hit .237/.302/.386 with 11 HR as the team’s primary third baseman as the team transitioned away from Scott Brosius and moved into the Eric Chavez-era at the hot corner. He would[…]
When I first got into autograph collecting, Esteban German was one of the Athletics biggest prospects and a personal favorite of mine. In 2001 he was the Athletics MiLB player of the year and looked like he would turn into a prototypical leadoff hitter at the big league level. But[…]
Jim Mecir was the Seattle Mariner’s 3rd round pick of the 1991 draft. He would make the majors in 1995 and spent 11 seasons in the big league, pitching for five different organizations. He spent his entire career pitching out of the pen and was more often than not fantastic,[…]
Randy Velarde spent 16-seasons in the major leagues and retired with a line of .276/.352/.408, good for an OPS+ of 101. He spent ten of those 16-seasons with the Yankees, and while he was never really a full-time starter in New York, I imagine that is where most people remember[…]
This card–2004 Bowman Heritage–I pulled myself back in 2005. I have tried to get it signed a couple of times and finally lucked out this past spring. Eric Chavez was the 10th overall pick of the 1996 MLB draft, selected by the Athletics out of high school. I always forget[…]
I got this autograph while Sean Murphy was playing with the low-minors back in 2016. He was the A’s 3rd round pick in 2016, out of Wright State. Over the last couple of seasons, he has gone on to become one of the best catching prospects in the minors. Fangraphs[…]
Gosh, watching an Indians/A’s baseball game in 1992 would have been exciting. The A’s would more than likely stomp on the Tribe, but you would see Kenny Lofton and Rickey Henderson face off…which would be worth the price of admission. look at what they did that year: Henderson, 33, would[…]