#387 Johnny Podres - Los Angeles Dodgers

John Joseph Podres
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170
Born:  September 30, 1932, Witherbee, NY
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1951 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1953-1955, 1957; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1966; Detroit Tigers 1966-1967; San Diego Padres 1969
Died:  January 13, 2008, Glens Falls, NY (age 75)

Johnny Podres forever joined the ranks of Dodger greats when the lefty won 1955 World Series MVP honors for his two fantastic starts against the Yankees in the Fall Classic.  Podres started Game 3, pitching a complete game in the Dodgers' win, and then started the decisive Game 7, pitching a complete game shutout to give the team their first and only World Series title while in Brooklyn.  Podres settled in as a reliable starter for Brooklyn and then Los Angeles, winning at least 12 games over the next seven seasons and making four All-Star teams.  He led the league with six shutouts in 1957 while winning the ERA title with a 2.66 mark.  Podres attained a career-high 18 wins in 1961, and he'd win two more World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1959 and 1963.  He retired as a player following a half-season with the expansion Padres in 1969.  Podres was 148-116 over 440 career games, pitching 77 complete games and 24 shutouts.  He struck out 1,435 over his 15-year big league career, currently 249th on the all-time leader's list.  Podres' 136 career wins with the Dodgers currently ranks 10th all-time for the franchise.

1996 Phillies Photo Cards #46

Podres served as a long-time pitching coach in the majors, working for the Padres (1973), Red Sox (1980), Twins (1981-1985) and Phillies (1991-1996).

Building the Set

October 12, 2021 from Valley Cottage, NY - Card #375

This Podres card along with three other cards needed for our set were bonus additions to a large purchase I made from OLDBBCards Vintage Sports Cards from Valley Cottage, New York on my birthday.  The bubble envelope containing the cards arrived a little over a week later.  I'm also slowly collecting the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, and I took advantage of the seller's 20% off sale being offered in their eBay store to add the Earl Averill card, the most expensive card I've purchased for that set to date.  Before checking out, I browsed the seller's other cards for sale and found four reasonably priced cards needed for our 1965 Topps set.  Podres was a little over $10 after applying the discount.

I spent a relatively low-key birthday watching our oldest son Doug help his team win a travel baseball game in the morning, receiving the Pete Rose (#207) card for our set, and then walking over to my sister's house for a cook-out with family that afternoon.  It was a wonderful day!

The Card / Dodgers Team Set
The back of the card references Podres' four World Series wins - two in 1955, one in 1959 and a final win in 1963.

1965 Season
Podres underwent elbow surgery in 1964 and appeared in only two games.  After strengthening his repaired arm in the offseason in the Arizona Fall League, Podres rejoined the Dodgers and appeared in 27 games throughout the season, making 22 starts as the team's most regularly used fourth starter behind Sandy Koufax (#300), Don Drysdale (#260) and Claude Osteen (#570).  The former World Series star didn't appear in any games during the 1965 World Series, in which the Dodgers defeated the Twins in seven games.

Phillies Career
Podres was hired as the Phillies pitching coach on October 31, 1990, after spending the prior five seasons as a minor league coach with the Dodgers.  He joined manager Nick Leyva's coaching staff as the replacement for Darold Knowles (#577), who had departed after two seasons at the post.  Podres stuck around following Leyva's dismissal 13 games into the 1991 season, and he was a key member of new manager Jim Fregosi's (#210) coaching staff throughout the early 1990s.  Podres is credited with helping Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene, Ben Rivera, and other young Phillies pitchers find early success in their careers.  He went to his final World Series with the club in 1993, with the Phillies falling in six games to Joe Carter and the Blue Jays.  Podres left the team during the 1996 season to deal with health issues and was replaced on an interim basis by Jim Wright.  Following the 1996 season, and in connection with the hiring of new manager Terry Francona, Podres was replaced by Galen Cisco (#364) as the team's full-time pitching coach.

1953 Topps #263

1955 Topps #25

1959 Topps #495

1963 Topps #150

1969 Topps #659

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1953 Topps #263
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17):  1953-1967, 1969, 1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2015 Topps Stepping Up #SU-4

367 - Podres non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/3/21.

Sources:  
1956 Topps Blog

1991 Phillies Media Guide

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #386 Cubs Rookie Stars

Next Card:  #388 John Blanchard - New York Yankees

#477 Cardinals Rookie Stars - Fritz Ackley / Steve Carlton

Florian Fritz Ackley
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  202
Born:  April 10, 1937, Hayward, WI
Signed:  Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before 1954 season
Major League Teams:  Chicago White Sox 1963-1964
Died:  May 22, 2002, Duluth, MN (age 65)

Steven Norman Carlton
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  210
Born:  December 22, 1944, Miami, FL
Signed:  Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent, October 8, 1963
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Cardinals 1965-1971; Philadelphia Phillies 1972-1986; San Francisco Giants 1986; Chicago White Sox 1986; Cleveland Indians 1987; Minnesota Twins 1987-1988
Hall of Fame Induction:  1994

2006 Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Postcards

After almost 10 years in the minor leagues, Fritz Ackley finally got his chance with the White Sox in 1963, making it into a pair of games and impressing with a 2.08 ERA over 13 innings pitched.  That same year, Ackley was named the International League Pitcher of the Year after going 18-5 with a 3.21 ERA for the Indianapolis Indians.  He had three more appearances in Chicago in 1964 before he was sold to the Cardinals before the 1965 season.  Ackley never pitched for the Cardinals, and after three more seasons in the minors, he retired in 1967. Ackley's counterpart on this Rookie Stars card made out slightly better with his big league career.  

Steve Carlton was one of the best left-handed pitchers in the history of the game.  He found early success with the Cardinals, making three All-Star squads and earning his first World Series ring in 1967.  After the Phillies acquired him in February 1972 for Rick Wise (#322), he took his career to the next level.  Lefty led the league in strikeouts five times, wins four times and he clinched an ERA title in 1972 with a 1.97 mark to go along with his 27-10 record and 30 complete games.  That was also the year he won the first of his four Cy Young Awards, winning the honor again in 1977, 1980 and 1982.  His pitching helped the Phillies win their first World Championship in 1980.  

Carlton currently ranks 11th on the all-time wins list (329) and 4th on the all-time strikeouts list (4,136) with only Warren Spahn (#205) with more wins in baseball history (363) among all left-handed pitchers.  He briefly held the top spot for all-time strikeouts before being ultimately overtaken by Nolan Ryan in 1984, and along with Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens he's one of only four players with over 4,000 strikeouts in major league history.  That mark also puts him atop the all-time National League leaders list for strikeouts.  His #32 was retired by the Phillies in 1989, and he was an easy first ballot Hall of Famer in 1994.

Building the Set
December 25, 2020 from Prospect, KY - Card #180
Growing up, I could always count on Santa to bring me one "big" card each and every Christmas and I've enjoyed keeping that tradition going now that I have kids of my own.  I was happy to see our oldest son Doug genuinely surprised and happy to find the Steve Carlton rookie card under the tree on Christmas morning, along with his new collection of PlayStation games.  To complement the rookie card, Doug also received a Carlton signed Phillies Wall of Fame baseball which he later listed as one of his favorite presents along with the Spider-Man: Miles Morales game.  Santa purchased this card from eBay seller somersetvelvet, located in Prospect, Kentucky.

It was a strange Christmas as we kept extended family interactions to a minimum with either masked up short visits or FaceTime calls, but it was wonderful nevertheless as our family continues to be safe and healthy.  From a collecting standpoint, I did a little surrogate shopping for my wife Jenna and she along with our boys ended up giving me the rest of the cards needed to complete the first series of our 1965 Topps set.  Including this Carlton rookie card, we added 33 cards to our 1965 set on Christmas day, putting us over the 200-card mark and giving us a little over 35% of the set.

I hope your Christmas was healthy and enjoyable and that you found a few cards under your trees as well!

The Card / Cardinals Team Set
I clearly remember seeing this card for sale at various baseball card shows throughout the 1980s and thinking (a) that card looks really old and (b) there's no way I'll ever own such an iconic card.  I know my family doesn't quite understand it, but it's awesome to me that I've now added this historic rookie card to our collection.

Ackley is wearing a White Sox jersey in his photo.  As the back of the card mentions, he was optioned down to Jacksonville at the start of the 1965 season and way before this card reached collectors' hands.  Carlton's 10-1 mark came as a member of the Rock Hill Cardinals in 1964.

Of the reprint versions of this card available, only one features Ackley - the 1985 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards Reprint version.  The Carlton half of the card has been reprinted as part of the 1996 Phillies All-Star Game FanFest promotion set and the 2001 Topps Archives releases.

1965 Season - Ackley
Ackley spent the entire season with the Jacksonville Suns, the Cardinals' top farm team.  In 41 games (22 starts), he went 8-11 with a 3.92 ERA with 101 strikeouts and 71 walks over 163 innings pitched.

1965 Season - Carlton
Carlton made his debut with the Cardinals on April 12th and he'd appear in a total of 15 games for the club, going 0-0 with a 2.52 ERA over 25 innings pitched.  His first career start came on June 14th against the Pirates, and he lasted 4 1/3 innings before getting pulled in a tie game.

Phillies Career - Carlton
Carlton put together a Hall of Fame career as the greatest left-handed pitcher in Phillies team history.  He was an All-Star in 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1979 through 1982.  Carlton was the winning pitcher in the World Series clinching game against the Royals in 1980.  He's the franchise's all-time leader in games started (499), wins (241) and strikeouts (3,031).  A statute of Carlton stands at Citizens Bank Park, the current home of the Phillies, along with statues of the other members of the franchise's Mount Rushmore - Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and Mike Schmidt.

1964 Topps #368

1978 TCMA The 1960s I #27

1996 Phillies All-Star Game FanFest #4

2001 Topps Archives #271

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Ackley
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #368
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1964-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #27

9 - Ackley non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/25/20.

Sources - Ackley:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Carlton
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #477
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (22):  1965, 1967-1987
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Update Decades' Best #DB-39

1,978 - Carlton non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/25/20.

Sources - Carlton:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

1967 Topps #146

1972 Topps #751

1977 Topps #110

1980 Topps #210

1987 Topps Traded #19T

Previous Card:  #476 Billy O'Dell - Milwaukee Braves

Next Card:  #478 Wilbur Wood - Pittsburgh Pirates

#57 St. Louis Cardinals Team Card

Beginning in 1956 and going all the way through to 1981, with a one year absence in 1969, Topps included team cards in its flagship sets.

Building the Set
February 13, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #52

eBay can be a dangerous place during long work days in the winter, and on a long work day in early February I found myself once again browsing through listings from a 1965 Topps set break from Greg Morris Cards.  I again bid on 20 cards, placing my maximum bid on each of the 20 and then vowing not to go back and increase my bid if someone else came in over me.  I stuck to my vow, and came away with another 11 new cards for our set, including this Cardinals team card.  I didn't track my original minimum bids, but I won this card for $1.25.

The Card
I wanted to go ahead and get this card out of the way, since it's perhaps one of the most painful cards for a Phillies fan in the entire 1965 set.  I wasn't even born in 1964, but I clearly remember the melancholy the season caused and the sadness and anger my older relatives always displayed whenever they'd discuss the Phillies collapse in September 1964.

The photo used was taken at some point during the 1962 season, after May 7th, and presented above is that photo with the subjects listed underneath.  May 7th was the date the Cardinals acquired Bobby Shantz from the Colt .45s and he's in the back row, next to Bob Gibson (#320).  By the time the 1965 season arrived, Shantz had retired, having since played for the Cubs and Phillies.  Topps used the same photo for the Cardinals' team card in their 1963, 1964 and 1965 sets, finally updating the photo in 1966.

Flipping to the back, Lou Brock (#540) did in fact lead the team in hitting, but the average shown on the card (.315) includes his 52 games with the Cubs.  With the Cardinals, Brock hit .348 after his acquisition on June 15th.

1963 Topps #524

1964 Topps #87

1966 Topps #379

1967 Topps #173

Cardinals Team Set

1965 Season
The Cardinals came back down to Earth in 1965 under new manager Red Schoendienst (#556), finishing in 7th place in the N.L. with a record of 80-81.  Still a talented team, the core Cardinals players were aging and new general manager Bob Howsam made a number of trades following the season in an attempt to get younger.  Ken Boyer (#100), Dick Groat (#275), Bob Uecker (#519) and Bill White (#190) were all dealt in October after the disappointing season.  This was also the final full season the Cardinals played in the original Busch Stadium, a ballpark that had first seen game action in 1920.

During the season, White, Curt Flood (#415) and Brock paced the offense.  White led the team with 24 home runs while Flood's 83 RBIs were tops.  Brock hit .288 while stealing 63 bases, second in the league behind the Dodgers' Maury Wills.  Gibson went 20-12 with a 3.07 ERA, but the only other members of the pitching staff with at least 10 wins were Tracy Stallard (#491) with 11 and Bob Purkey (#214) with 10.  Hal Woodeshick (#179) led the bullpen with 51 appearances, 15 saves and a 1.81 ERA.

1996 FanFest Steve Carlton #4

Update Cards
For each team card featured, I'll be building a checklist of cards that could have been included in a 1965 Topps update set.  The Cardinals are extremely well represented in the 1965 Topps set, so I didn't have a lot of choices here.

• Hal Woodeshick - The team's closer, Woodeshick was acquired from the Astros on June 15th.
• Ted Savage - Savage appeared in 30 games for the Cardinals, hitting only .159.  The former Phillies prospect had a two-year gap in Topps set appearances, missing both the 1965 and 1966 sets.
• Nelson Briles - Reliever Briles appears on a Rookie Stars card (#431), but his 37 games deserve a solo card in my imagined update set.
• Don Dennis - The 23-year-old Dennis appeared in 41 games, had 6 saves and a 2.29 ERA.  He'd earn his rookie card in the 1966 Topps set.
• Steve Carlton - The future Hall of Famer appears on one half of a Rookie Stars card (#477), but he should have his own card as well.  Topps produced a solo 1965 Topps card for him during the 1996 FanFest held before that year's All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

Sources
Baseball Reference

Previous Card:  #56 Ron Kline - Washington Senators

Next Card:  #58 Fred Talbot - Chicago White Sox