Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
I wrote to Michael Madsen in 2006. At the time he was one of the A’s top-30 prospects. He was drafted out of Ohio State in the 21st round of the 2005 draft He had a very nice pro debut in 2005, going 6-1 with a 1.69 ERA/0.875 WHIP in[…]
Ripper Collins could hit the ball hard. And had a long successful career in baseball, both in the minor and major leagues. In 1930 Collins hit .376 with 40 HR for the Rochester Red Wings, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a powerful performance that won him[…]
Connie Johnson made the majors in 1953 with the Chicago White Sox. By the time he made it to the show his arm had some miles on it. He had been pitching–often spectacularly–since 1940. But baseball’s color barrier meant that he would never have a chance to showcase his talents[…]
Matt Murton was the Red Sox first-round pick back in 2003. He was not with the organization long, being part of the package that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in 2003. He was well thought of as a prospect, ranking in ranking the Red Sox #5 prospect in 2003,[…]
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[…]
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[…]
Dustan Mohr was drafted out of the University of Alabama in the 9th round of the 1997 draft by the Cleveland Indians. He only spent three seasons in the organization, showing decent pop and not much else. He progressed as high as AA and was released by the Tribe in[…]
Brandon Duckworth…this is an exciting one! Back in 2000, Brandon Duckworth was one of the Phillies biggest prospects. He was undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton but after a strong season in AA-Reading in 2000 (13-7, 3.16 ERA) he put himself on the prospect map. He followed it up with[…]
Wally Judnich is one of the tougher autographs from the Cleveland Indians 1948 World Champion team. I got this index card years ago. Its not perfect–he signed it in pencil–but it’s still pretty nice. Judnich was a role player by the time he was on the ’48 team, but there[…]
Dan Fyvie is one of many minor leaguers that I have had a crush on over the years, and though many never really panned out professionally I am still a fan of. Unfortunately, despite never becoming stars players like this can still be tough and/or expensive to add to the collection.[…]