Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
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[…]
Homer Bailey was a huge prospect while he was coming up with the Reds, and many had him pegged as a future ace. While he had a very nice 14-season career in the majors, he never was able to find the consistency to be a true #1 starter. He 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[…]
Tony Gwynn is one of my Top 5 favorite players ever. Every couple years I try to add a new autograph of his to my collection, and this is the newest, from the 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set. I was worried that the dark card and blue autograph[…]
Kosuke Fukudome was traded from the Chicago Cubs to Cleveland in July 2011. The Indians had to part ways with two prospects to get him, pitcher Carlton Smith and outfielder Abner Abreu. The 2011 Cleveland Indians, like pretty much every season since, were having trouble fielding a major-league caliber outfield.[…]
Albert Pujols is having a decent little late-career resurgence with the Dodgers, hitting 270/.313/.467 with 9 HR over 152 at-bats, good for an 110 OPS+. I was able to knock this card out at a private signing in 2010 or 2011. It was not cheap, but at the time he[…]
This Hunter Pence autograph was from when he was playing in Low-A ball. For a sharpie on an index card, it has aged well. Pence was part of the vaunted 2007 rookie class that included Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Dustin Pedroia, and Delmon Young. He would finish 3rd in NL[…]
Jason Krizan was drafted by the Tigers in the 8th round of the 2011 draft. He has never really gotten much prospect attention, which is a little frustrating since he has hit at every level he has played. Over his 10 seasons in the majors, he has a career line[…]
Eric Haase was one of the Indians Top 25 prospects in both 2018 and 2019. He had a ton of power and was solid behind the plate, but he also struck out a ton. Haase would see some time in both 2018 and 2019 with the Tribe, but never found[…]
Relief pitcher Louis Head was drafted in the 18th round by the Cleveland Indians in 2012. He was a very good bullpen arm while moving up through the Cleveland organization, and seemed like he had the potential to make the big leagues at some point. But in 2018 he struggled[…]