Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Mel Harder had a fantastic 20-year career in the big leagues. Unfortunately, he was stuck playing on Cleveland squads that were middling at best, which probably hurt his career numbers. The best any club did that he was on came in 1940 when the Indians went 89-65 and finished a[…]
The Card: 1978 TCMA Knoxville Knox Sox #0025 Harold Baines Is this really his first card? Yup! What is his rookie card? Baine’s real rookie cards would come in 1981: 1981 Fleer #346, 1981 O-Pee-Chee #347, and 1981 Topps #347. When was he in Cleveland? Baine was traded to Cleveland[…]
I love outfielder Ryan Ludwick. One of my all-time favorite players.
Every now and again I get infatuated with a prospect and go crazy trying to stock up on their autograph. Tyler Krieger was one of those players. This was back in 2016 when he had a fantastic season between Low-A and High-A, hitting .299/.377/.417.
The Card: 1972 Topps Jim “Mudcat” Grant Being a fan of both the Cleveland and Oakland organizations, it’s nice when a player plays for both franchises at some point. It’s even better when that player was good, and Mudcat Grant was certainly that too. Mudcat Grant made the majors in[…]
I was a fan of Jeremy Sowers while he was pitching at Vanderbilt, and was excited when Cleveland drafted him with the 6th overall pick of the 2004 draft.
The 2007 Cleveland Indians were a good team. They won 96 games, and beat the Yankees in the ALDS, but could not quite get past the David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez-led Red Sox in the ALCS. The Cleveland rotation had a good rotation, with two 19-game winners in CC Sabathia and Roberto Hernandez, and a 15-win season from Paul Byrd. But it is tempting to think what would have happened if Cliff Lee would have been a productive member of that rotation.
Wally Post’s last season in the big leagues came in 1964 with Cleveland. The outfielder got eight at-bats, recorded no hits, and would be released in May. It would be the end of an impressive 15-year career in the big leagues.
I am finally getting around to posting some of my non-Topps Cleveland sets onto my portfolio. Starting off with the team-issued 1948 Cleveland Indians team picture pack. I bought this set years ago, and I remember it did not set me back that much. But, it seems that like most[…]
Rocky Colavito. I love this autograph. What I don’t have shown is the note that I got from him explaining how I forgot a return stamp and that normally he would throw requests like that away. But I wrote a nice letter, so he was doing me a solid by adding a stamp. I was…so embarrassed.