Here's your chance to get close to your favorite Indians player for the next 365 days
Baseball-Reference has a banner ad near the top of every player and team page on the site. When you go to almost any of those pages, you see an ad from one of the site's major sponsors, but if you look closely, you'll see that each of those ad spaces is for sale, to anyone who's willing to pony up the cost (you'll see that some of those spaces have already been purchased, in which case you'll also see the expiration date for that sponsorship).
The cost is determined by some sort of page-view algorithm, so the prices for different pages vary greatly, with some being as inexpensive as $5 (for a full year!), and other costing well over $1,000 (the most-expensive player page I found during a few minutes spent browsing was that of Alex Rodriguez, currently selling for $2,225).
I was curious to know how much various Indians' pages are going for, and here's what I found:
Jason Giambi leads the way by a comfortable margin, his pages is selling for $590. While it makes sense that better players' pages would go for more money, because people are more likely to check on stars than on Joe Shlabotnik, but I hadn't considered for much of an impact a player's former stardom would have on their price.
Second on the list (also by a very clear margin) is Nick Swisher, whose page is at $340. My guess is some of that is still residual traffic to his page from his days with the Yankees, though maybe his Ohio connections really do make him just that popular with Tribe fans.
From there players begin to cluster together. Michael Bourn is at #3, for $195, followed by Danny Salazar at #4, for $185. The electric stuff he displayed in his best games, along with him starting the Wild Card Game probably sent a lot of people to find out more about him. Jason Kipnis rounds out the top five, selling for $170.
The Tribe's new closer John Axford is 6th, at a price of $160, followed by Asdrubal Cabrera in 7th at $145. Justin Masterson and Yan Gomes tie for 8th place, each selling for $130. Then there's Trevor Baue, going for $125 and landing in 10th place.
Poor Carlos Santana finds yet another avenue in which to be under-appreciated, missing out on the top ten entirely, despite being one of the team's two best players. He's at $110, same as newcomer David Murphy, and behind Ryan Raburn, who seems expensive for a bench player at $115. Drew Stubbs is the only other player in triple figures, selling right at $100.
Other position players include Michael Brantley ($85), Mike Aviles ($70), and Lonnie Chisenhall ($70).
Among other pitchers, Marc Rzepczynski is next ($90), followed by Corey Kluber ($70), Shaun Marcum ($70), Zach McAllister ($55), Carlos Carrasco ($50), Cody Allen ($35), Bryan Shaw ($25), and Josh Tomlin ($20).
I happen to think that buying a friend or family member's page for them makes for a pretty cool holiday gift, especially if the friend or family member would ever go to Baseball-Reference (though if you're spending money on a gift for someone at Baseball-Reference, a yearlong subscription to their Play Index is the best way to go). You can write whatever message you want in the ad:
"Sam McDowell was one of the greatest strikeout pitchers in baseball history, and my father John Stewart's boyhood hero. Here's to all the great stories I've heard about "Sudden Sam" through the years, and the Indians fandom I've been lucky enough to inherit. Merry Christmas, Dad!"
I think that's a pretty snazzy way to spend $45 on your old man.
Here are the priciest former (and retired) Indians:
Manny Ramirez ($650), Jim Thome ($365), Albert Belle ($195), Joe Jackson, Tris Speaker, and Omar Vizquel ($165 each), Kenny Lofton ($155), Julio Franco ($115), and Bob Feller ($110).
No one else who spent something like half their career or more with the Tribe costs more than $75.
You could also purchase the team page for a particular season. the priciest is 2013 ($875), because of course far more people look at the current year than any other. Next up is 1995 ($120), followed by 2012 ($75), 1997 ($65), 2007 ($60), and 1954 ($55). No other season costs more than $45, and once you get back before the mid 1980s, most seasons cost $15 or less.
You could put your name on the World Champion 1920 Cleveland Indians page for only $25!
The only Tribe pages I came across that are already spoken for are Tris Speaker, Vinnie Pestano, and the 1948 and 1975 teams. Everything else is there to be had!
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