Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Andres Mora’s career was more than just his four seasons in the majors. When he finally retired from baseball in 1997, he was recognized as one of the greatest power hitters in Mexican League history, and would very likely be the league’s all-time homerun champion if it wasn’t for his four seasons in the majors.
Robin Yount had a fantastic career and deserved to be elected to the Hall of Fame back in 1999. I do think it’s funny that he had almost as many MVP awards (two) as All-Star selections (three).
Last season Clase had one of the most dominant seasons of any closer in franchise history: he lead the league in appearances (77), games finished (67), and saves (42). He finished the year with a 1.36 ERA and 281 ERA+ and was selected to his first All-Star game.
I am always excited when an Oakland player lands with the Guardians. Oakland has always been my second favorite team (and I still think they have the best-looking uniforms in baseball), so it’s kind of neat to see a guy wear both uniforms.
This morning the Atlanta Braves shipped pitcher Kyle Muller to the Oakland Athletics as part of a massive, three-team trade centered around Oakland catcher Sean Murphy.
Sam Hentges was Cleveland’s 4th round pick of the 2014 draft out of high school in Minnesota. He made the majors in 2021 and had a rough go of it, going 1-4 with a 6.68 ERA/64 ERA+ as both a starter and relief arm. He was only 24, but it[…]
SP Joey Cantillo is one of Cleveland’s better pitching prospects, ranking the organization’s #15 prospect entering the season. This is cool since not only is he in my hometown’s organization, but he was originally drafted by the Padres in the 16th round of the 2017 draft out of High School in Kailua, Hawaii. I actually got his autograph at a University of Hawaii game in 2016.
Nolan Arenado has long been one of my favorite National League players, so it was nice to see him have such a fantastic 2022 season. He ended the campaign with 34 HR and a 154 OPS+, which is the highest OPS+ of his career.
Brady Clark was one of the first autographs I ever got when I got into collecting back in the early-2000s. Last month there was a private signing for him, and I was able to send two cards in. It was a nice chance to finally get his autograph on a nice item.
Today there was a scrimmage between prep players from Oahu and the Big Island. It was a low-eye event at Central Oahu park, so the fact that I had to drive like 10 minutes to get there was nice. And it only took me about 20 minutes to get the player that I wanted, Punahou infielder Nolan Souza.