1967 Topps Johnny Podres Detroit Tigers

Today's entry in my 1967 Topps Autographed Baseball card collection is a pitcher who helped bring the first World Series Championship to the Brooklyn Dodger team in 1955 by winning Game 7 with a shutout against the New York Yankees. It is Johnny Podres of the Detroit Tigers, card number 284 in the 1967 Topps Baseball card set of 609 subjects.

This autograph was one of the very first I obtained to start my collection in September of 2008. I purchased the card from another collector of 1967 Topps Autographed cards at a baseball card show in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the time, this collector had amassed over 350 different autographed cards and was a big motivating factor for me starting my collection. As of September 29, 2010, I have obtained 511 different autographs for this set. Johnny signed the card with a blue ballpoint pen. Mr. Podres had passed away on January 13, 2008 at age 75.

Johnny Podres pitched in the major leagues for 15 seasons from 1953 to 1969. The majority of his career was spent with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched for the Dodgers from 1953 to 1966 then was traded mid-season to the Detroit Tigers. Johnny stayed with the Tigers through the 1967 season then was part of the 1969 San Diego Padres expansion team. His career statistics include 148 victories versus 116 losses, 3.68 earned run average, 77 complete games of which 24 were shutouts and 1435 strikeouts. Johnny Podres was named to four All-Star teams from 1958 to 1962, won 3 World Series Rings with the Dodgers, 1955, 1959 and 1963 and was named the MVP of the 1955 World Series by winning 2 games versus the Yankees.

Given his performance in the 1955 World Series, Johnny was named the Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" at the end of the year. To learn more about Johnny Podres, go to his biography at wikipedia.org. 

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