Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
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[…]
There were all acquired late in the season from consignments. Some neat stuff. Emilio Pagan, p, Oakland Athletics – 10th round pick of the Mariners back in 2013. Came to the A’s in 2017 as part of the Ryon Healy deal. He got 62 innings in with the big league[…]
J.B. Wendelken was drafted by the Red Sox in the 13th round of the 2012 draft out of Middle Georgia College. He has been part of two trades since then. In 2012 he was part of a three-team, six-player trade that saw him sent to the White Sox (the Red Sox[…]
Edwin Jackson was a 6th round pick of the Dodgers in 2001 and made the majors in 2003. He has had an interesting career. He has never been a lights-out pitcher, but he has been consistent. From 2007-2014 he averaged 184 innings with an ERA+ of 92. He never won[…]
Despite being contenders in 2018 the Athletics starting rotation was, for the most part, a dumpster fire. In an effort to help fortify the rotation down the stretch the A’s traded for Mike Fiers. Fiers was having a decent season with the Tigers–but most importantly was a warm body who[…]