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Collecting Cleveland Baseball Since 1982

Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.

From the Collection: Ryan Ludwick, of, St. Louis Cardinals

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Ryan Ludwick
Ryan Ludwick signed scorecard

Ryan Ludwick is one of my all-time favorite players. The big reason he that is one of the rare players who played for both of my favorite organizations (CLE and OAK). It’s also in large part because he was on the 2002 Oklahoma RedHawks team, which was a team that I absolutely loved. That roster was stacked with prospects–many of which I followed since they came from the Athletics organization in the Carlos Pena trade.

Look at this:

  • Jason Hart, 1b – Former Oakland prospect that was traded to Texas. Never really panned out, but a MiLB coach now.
  • Travis Hafner, 1b – Prospect and future power-hitting Cleveland Indian.
  • Hank Blalock, 3b – At the time, one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
  • Jason Romano, if – An Infield prospect and a super nice guy, would spend parts of four seasons in the majors.
  • Kevin Mench, of – Power-hitting prospect who would spend eight seasons in the majors.
  • R.A. Dickey, sp – He was 27 years old, and ended the season 8-7 with a 4.09 ERA. There is no way anyone would know he was going to win 120 more major league games, including a 20-game, Cy Young award-winning season in 2012.
  • Mario Ramos, sp – Former Oakland prospect that was traded to Texas. For a while was one of the A’s biggest pitching prospects.
  • Joaquin Benoit, sp – A good pitching prospect that would go on to have a long major league career.
  • Aaron Myette, sp – One of the Top 100 prospects in the game from 1999-2000. Spend parts of six seasons in the majors.
  • Colby Lewis, sp – One of the Top 100 prospects in the game from 2002-2003. Spend parts of 11 seasons in the majors, and would win 77 games.

And of course, Ryan Ludwick. He was always a great prospect, but injuries always seemed to hold him back. Even though he made the majors in 2002, it wasn’t until 2008 (at the old age of 29) that he would put other a full season’s worth of at-bats.

That season, with St. Louis, he hit .299/.375/.591 with 37 HR, and was both an All-Star and Silver Slugger. He was never quite that good again, though he did have a couple of seasons of average production. But the injury bug would eventually come back, and he would retire following the 2014 season.