1958 Topps #120 Johnny Podres
About Johnny Podres
Card #120 lands in the second series of the 494-card 1958 Topps set and lists him with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that first West Coast summer he went 13-15 and made his first All-Star team. The Coliseum, with a left field fence just 250 feet from the plate, shaped his year: he won 11 games there and only two on the road, and blamed it on pitching more carefully at home.
John Joseph Podres was a left-hander out of Witherbee, a hamlet in New York's Adirondacks where his father worked the mines and pitched semipro ball on Sundays. Brooklyn signed him as an amateur free agent before the 1951 season, and by 1953 he was with the Dodgers, 9-4 as a rookie. Two years later he became folklore. Podres beat the Yankees in Game 3 of the 1955 World Series on his 23rd birthday, then started Game 7 on October 4 and shut them out 2-0 to give Brooklyn the only championship it ever won, taking home the first World Series Most Valuable Player Award ever given. The Navy claimed his 1956 season. He came back to lead the National League with a 2.66 earned run average and six shutouts in 1957, was named to four All-Star teams, and added three more rings after the club moved to Los Angeles. He finished at 148-116 with a 3.68 earned run average and 1,435 strikeouts, then coached pitchers for the Padres, Red Sox, Twins and Phillies across 23 seasons. Cooperstown honors the moment without ever having elected the man: a bronze of Podres stands outside the Hall of Fame, 60 feet six inches from a statue of Roy Campanella. The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 2002.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 672 | 0 | 22 | 188 | 207 | 116 | 63 | 75 | 1 |
| SGC | 97 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 14 | 15 | 22 | 23 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8). PSA counts are straight-graded (the +/Q qualifier rows are excluded).
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Johnny Podres card?
It is card #120 of the 1958 Topps Baseball set - Topps' sixth flagship issue: 494 cards numbered 1-495 (#145 was never issued), with die-cut player photos on solid-color backgrounds and the first team logos on Topps fronts. It pictures Johnny Podres, Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Johnny Podres #120 are there?
PSA has graded 672 copies and SGC 97 as of the 2026-07-09 snapshot. Population is a scarcity guide, not a price - high-grade 1958s are notoriously tough because of the set's chronic centering and print-quality issues.
How many cards are in the 1958 Topps set?
494 issued cards, numbered 1-495 - #145 (Ed Bouchee) was pulled before release and never issued, leaving a permanent gap. The PSA master census counts 534 items: the 494 base cards plus 33 yellow-letter variations, 4 numerical checklist-back team cards, the 'Herrer' #433 error, and 2 unnumbered ad cards.
Sources: PSA CardFacts, Beckett, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research (Topps Archives, 2026). Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-09-30.