1963 Topps #150 Johnny Podres
About Johnny Podres
Card #150 is a round number for Podres in the second series, and its back reports the heaviest workload he ever carried: 40 starts, 255 innings, a 15-13 record and a 3.81 earned run average. That was also the summer he started an All-Star Game for the National League, the fourth and final All-Star honor of his career. The second card is the prize. In the fifth series, #412 is a combination issue that puts him in a single frame with Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax as the Dodgers' big three.
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-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 547 | 1 | 24 | 274 | 152 | 56 | 25 | 15 | 0 |
| SGC | 71 | 0 | 4 | 33 | 12 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-09-24. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8), and PSA's qualified grades are counted separately from the straight-grade rows shown here.
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Related cards
More Johnny Podres in this set: #412 Combo
Team card: #337 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #1 1962 National League Batting Leaders
- #5 1962 National League E.R.A. Leaders
- #7 1962 National League Pitching Leaders
- #9 1962 National League Strikeout Leaders
- #11 Lee Walls
- #53 Joe Moeller
- #68 Friendly Foes
- #80 Jim Gilliam
- #105 Ron Fairly
- #123 Frank Howard
- #154 Walt Alston
- #180 Bill Skowron
- #196 Doug Camilli
- #210 Sandy Koufax
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1963 Topps #150 card?
It is card #150 of the 576-card 1963 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Podres of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1963 Topps Baseball set?
576 cards, tracked as 583 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 576 with no gaps and no number used twice, and seven cards carry a catalogued print variation - three checklists, the two Rookie Stars cards also printed with a "1962" heading, and the #341 Jack Baldschun and #454 Art Fowler print states - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, The Topps Archives, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-03.