Cleveland Rocks

Of the 4 remaining teams this postseason, I guess I'm rooting for the Guardians to go all the way, though really I'll be happy as long as it isn't the Dodgers again.

I happen to have PCs going for 4 guys on Cleveland's current roster-- which seems like a lot since I don't collect a ton of active players-- so in the wake of their impressive comeback in the ALDS, I figured I'd get a post out of showing off some highlights.

That division series had me torn. On one hand, Chicago is my ancestral homeland, so wanting their teams to win is kinda embedded in my DNA. But Cleveland has a guy named Gavin. A pretty good Gavin, in fact! This past season, Williams became the first Gavin to lead the league in strikeouts, with his 248 pacing the AL. He's kept it going in the postseason, stepping up to carry a taxed Cleveland pitching staff.

Turns out I've got 3 Gavin Williams autos in the PC, all unlicensed Leaf stickergraphs. I'm pretty sure I've taken a run at a 1st Bowman auto or two, but couldn't walk away with one as of yet. At least the autos I've got are nice and shiny. They've also got serial numbers I like...

A pair of Christmas Cards and the first-off-the-line of 99.

As far as fully-licensed highlights from the PC, these funky rookie refractors are pretty sharp.

The refraction continues as we move now to Jose Ramirez, the heart and soul of Cleveland's lineup.

Looks like he's another guy whose signature changed after their rookie year, speeding it up after the novelty of signing stacks of your cards wears off. The 2014 Chrome RC auto was acquired as part of a blockbuster blogger trade back during the glory days of exchanging cards with other bloggers. It's the card I was most looking forward to when thumbing through the PC. And on the other hand, I had to do a double take when I came across the 2018 Stadium Club auto, as I had completely forgotten that I even had it, as if a friendly gremlin slipped it into the PC at some point over the years.

My childhood stint in the hobby ended in mid '93, and I have warm memories of pulling Topps Gold parallels while ripping packs of 1993 Topps, so I wanted to score myself one when Archives paid tribute a few years back. I think they were case hits or something, so I didn't bother going after a bunch or anything, but was happy to land this Ramirez for a good price.

Austin Hedges shares catching duties for the Guardians, sticking around in the game over a decade now by virtue of being a good dude and his skills handing pitchers, despite not having much luck with the bat. To his credit, 2026 saw him reach a career-high .247 batting average. Since he came up as a Padres prospect around the time I had returned to the hobby, I've ended up with a lot of Austin Hedges cards over the years. Autos here are a sweet Leaf Valiant card and a signed Topps Pro Debut, the later probably coming from Zippy.

A few more highlights from the Hedges PC. 

Gotta admit I kinda forgot Rhys Hoskins was on Guardians this year, but yeah, he was in the 1B/DH mix for Stephen Vogt's squad most of the year before an injury in August knocked him out of the lineup. He hasn't been as effective/fun of a player since the ACL injury wiped out his 2023 season, but I've still got a solid PC built during his early years in Philly. Another Zippy-Zappy TTM auto featured here. (btw, I need to post about a couple incoming PWEs from him, plus one from TLC.. thanks, guys!)

A variety of Panini cards I thought were worth taking a picture of.

Some neat Topps miscellany. The '70 Topps is a cloth parallel. The orange refractor is #/25 (sadly not #12). As the Ginter RC mini notes on the stamped sleeve, it's a glow-in-the-dark parallel (case hit).

And some more Topps hits, including the lone fully-licensed auto I've got of Rhys. It's numbered 66/99, which is extra fun because it's the same upside-down.

Let's close with the team's skipper. Stephen Vogt isn't a PC guy of mine, but he's in my collection thanks to a 12/25 Ginter mini that a reader kindly reached out to me about back in 2017.

He's got his work cut out for him, but wishing Mr. Vogt the best of luck finally bringing a championship back to The Cleve.