Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
aphet Amador signed with the Houston Astros back in 2013. He was 26 at the time and a veteran of the Mexican League. His numbers in Mexico were impressive; the season before signing with Houston he hit .368/.419/.693 with 36 homers for the Mexico City Red Devils.
Quincy Nieporte is a 27-year-old first baseman in the Detroit system and spent all of 2022 with AA-Erie. A 26th-round pick, Nieporte really isn’t a big prospect, but that does not stop him from putting up some big numbers.
Willie Mays was a pretty good baseball player. After 23 seasons in the big leagues, he retired with 660 HR and a line of .301/.384/.557, good for a 155 OPS+. Mays was selected to 24 All-Star teams, 12 Gold Gloves, two MVP awards, the 1951 Rookie of the Year Award,[…]
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.
Joe Smith has had a fantastic career. But he is a career middle relief pitcher, so it’s easy to not notice.
I got this autograph from Mike Trout…through the mail. There was while, when Trout was in the low minors, he signed TTM. Not really so much anymore, obviously. … Trout recently passed Pete Rose on the career WAR list, with 79.9 over 12 seasons in the big leagues. What is[…]
Del Crandall was in the majors from 1949 to 1966 and is one of the better all-around catchers in baseball history. He was known primarily for his defense, but his bat had more than a little juice to go with his Gold Glove. He almost won the 1949 NL Rookie[…]
After being drafted in the 39th round of the 2002 draft–a draft position not known to make many majors leaguers, he would go on to spend parts of three seasons in the majors–to include an All-Star selection. And there is no denying he was a masher in the minors, highlighted by his 2011 campaign with the Cubs AAA affiliate when he hit .331/.405/.664 with 38 HR and was selected the Pacific Coast League MVP.
I was so excited about Vanderbilt baseball coming to Hawaii. The team is filled with great players, and more than a few are going to being playing in the professional ranks someday soon. I had a few players I was particularly excited about, and infielder Carter Young was high on that list.
Rutgers baseball is having a heck of a season. As of today they are sitting atop the Big 10 standings with a 25-6 record, and are riding a 10-game winning streak. One of the big reasons for this is catcher redshirt junior Nick Cimmino