1973 Topps #315 John Odom
About John Odom
In Game 5 of the 1972 World Series, Odom pinch-ran with Oakland trailing Cincinnati 5-4 in the ninth. He tried to score from third on Joe Morgan's foul-pop catch and was thrown out at home to end the game. In Game 7 he led Jack Billingham 1-0 before both starters were relieved, and the A's won 3-2 for their first world title in Oakland. That postseason he went 2-1 with a 0.71 ERA in 25 1/3 innings. His 1973 Topps card, #315, was a third-series issue.
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. He 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 was on the roster for all three of Oakland's consecutive championships starting in 1972, 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 · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 180 | 6 | 57 | 90 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: #500 Oakland A's
More Oakland Athletics cards:
- #13 George Hendrick
- #38 Mike Epstein
- #60 Ken Holtzman
- #64 1972 Stolen Base Leaders
- #84 Rollie Fingers
- #155 Sal Bando
- #179 A's Field Leaders
- #201 A.L. Playoffs: Hendrick Scores Winning Run
- #203 World Series Game No. 1: Tenace the Menace
- #204 World Series Game No. 2: A's Make It Two Straight
- #206 World Series Game No. 4: Tenace Singles in Ninth
- #207 World Series Game No. 5: Odom Out at Plate
- #209 World Series Game No. 7: Campy Starts Winning Rally
- #210 World Champions (Oakland Athletics)
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #315 card?
It is card #315 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Odom of the Oakland Athletics.
Is #315 John Odom the same player as Blue Moon Odom?
Yes. The card front prints "John Odom", so it is listed here as printed, with Blue Moon Odom as the name he is also known by.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, 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 2026-10-25.