1968 Topps #501 John Odom
About John Odom
1968 Topps #501 is a sixth-series card, catching Odom with the Oakland Athletics in the franchise's first West Coast season. He led the club with 16 wins against a 2.45 ERA and made his first All-Star team, throwing two scoreless innings. On June 7 he carried a no-hitter against Baltimore into the ninth before Davey Johnson singled with two out; he also walked eight in that game and 98 on the year.
Johnny Lee Odom grew up in Macon, Georgia, where a fifth-grade classmate started calling him Blue Moon because his round face looked like the moon. He went 42-2 at Ballard-Hudson High with eight no-hitters and led the school to two straight state titles, then signed with Kansas City for a $75,000 bonus and reported to the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1964, a Deep South assignment that put him in the middle of the era's racial hostility. He reached the majors that September at nineteen, and six days after a battering by the Yankees he shut out Baltimore on two hits. More seasoning at Lewiston and Mobile followed. Odom's arrival as a quality starter coincided with the franchise's move to Oakland: he went 16-10 with a 2.45 ERA in 1968 and 15-6 in 1969, making the All-Star team both years. He won 15 more in 1972, beat Detroit twice in that year's playoff, and was on the roster for all three Oakland championships, working mostly in relief by 1974. He hit 12 home runs, unusual production for a pitcher, and finished 84-85 with a 3.70 ERA over 13 seasons. Cleveland, Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox followed; he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 252 | 1 | 40 | 109 | 55 | 20 | 13 | 14 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #554 Oakland Athletics
More Oakland Athletics cards:
- #18 Mike Hershberger
- #38 Tony Pierce
- #62 Chuck Dobson
- #79 Ted Kubiak
- #109 Bert Campaneris
- #127 Paul Lindblad
- #146 Sal Bando
- #164 Ramon Webster
- #183 Bob Kennedy
- #199 A's 1968 Rookie Stars
- #224 Jack Aker
- #244 John Donaldson
- #261 Dave Duncan
- #282 Rick Monday
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #501 card?
It is card #501 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Odom of the Oakland Athletics.
Is 1968 Topps #501 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, 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 2026-10-12.