Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Watching Ken Burns’s baseball documentary reminded me of how amazing Hank Aaron‘s career was and inspired me to drop a little money to add another autograph of his to my collection. I liked this card, in particular, since it was an Emerald version. Green is my favorite color. It was[…]
Will Brennan was drafted by Cleveland in the 8th round of the 2019 draft out of Kansas State. He was a decent prospect coming out of college, with good outfield defense and great on-base skills. But he did not have a ton of pop, so his ability to limit strikeouts[…]
Peak Vladimir Guerrero, from 1998-2008, was something else. During that period Guerrero hit .325/.392/.581 with 149 OPS+. He averaged 35 HR a season. My favorite stat is that he only averaged 70 K’s and 59 walks a season. The dude liked to swing. And when he swung, he normally made[…]
Brandon Moss is one of my favorite players, having played for both Cleveland and Oakland. Moss was a very productive bat during his three seasons (2012-2014) with the A’s, hitting .254/.340/.504 and averaging 25 HR a season. Good for an OPS+ of 135. This included his only All-Star selection in[…]
Nick Markakis spent 15 very good seasons in the big leagues. His career was defined by consistency: he was rarely injured (averaging 144 games a year), and retired with a very solid line of .288/.357/.423, good for a 109 OPS+. His best season came very late in his career. In[…]
Man, Steve Carlton was great. I mean, he is in the Hall of Fame, so of course, he is. But man! Look at this: 329 career wins During his peak–from 1967 to 1984–he averaged 262 innings a 17 wins a season. 262 innings! He won 20-games six times, including a[…]
If we just avoid the issue of PEDS, Jason Giambi was a great player. He spent 20-seasons in the big leagues and retired with 440 HR and 139 OPS+. While he didn’t have a Hall of Fame career even before the specter of PEDS hung over his career, he was[…]
I was able to get pitcher David Peterson‘s autograph back in 2015 when he was visiting Hawaii with the Oregon Ducks. That weekend he would make his first NCAA start, pitching 6.0 innings and striking out eight. Peterson was drafted by the New York Mets with the 20th overall pick[…]
In 2007 Perez was the left-handed battery mate to right-hander Rafael Betancourt, who together made one of the most impressive bullpen duos in the game and a big reason that the Tribe won 96-games and nearly went to the World Series.
It would take a couple of seasons, but Westbrook would develop into a very solid starting pitcher. Over nine seasons with the Tribe, Westbrook went 69-69 with a 4.29 ERA/1.374 WHIP/101 ERA+.