Johnny Podres Marquee

b. September 30, 1932 · Brooklyn Dodgers 1953–1955, 1957, Los Angeles Dodgers 1958–1966, Detroit Tigers 1966–1967, San Diego Padres 1969

On October 4, 1955, four days after his twenty-third birthday, he pitched a complete-game shutout at Yankee Stadium and Brooklyn won the World Series for the first and last time. He had won the third game as well. He was the first man given the World Series most valuable player award, which was invented that year.

In 1957 he had a 2.66 earned run average, the best in the National League, and led it in shutouts with six. He went 18-5 in 1961 and won three more World Series with the club in Los Angeles, in 1959, 1963 and 1965.

Fifteen seasons gave him 148 wins against 116, a 3.68 earned run average and 2,265 innings, with three All-Star selections. He missed 1956 in the Navy. He was from Witherbee, New York, a mining town, and pitched a changeup that hitters of the period described in tones usually reserved for weather. He died in 2008, at seventy-five.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	3	1958, 1960, 1962
Babe Ruth Award	1	1955
World Series MVP	1	1955

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1953	BRO	34	36	5	11	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	.306
1954	BRO	38	60	7	17	3	1	0	4	5	5	0	.283
1955	BRO	32	60	9	11	2	0	0	5	4	5	0	.183
1957	BRO	35	72	6	15	4	0	0	4	2	5	0	.208
1958	LAD	42	71	5	9	0	0	0	4	2	17	0	.127
1959	LAD	34	65	4	16	1	0	0	4	6	13	0	.246
1960	LAD	34	66	3	9	0	0	0	3	5	15	0	.136
1961	LAD	32	69	3	16	2	0	0	7	2	8	0	.232
1962	LAD	40	88	6	14	2	0	1	5	2	8	0	.159
1963	LAD	37	64	6	9	2	0	1	8	1	11	0	.141
1964	LAD	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1965	LAD	27	45	1	8	0	0	0	2	1	8	0	.178
1966	DET/LAD	37	30	5	7	3	0	0	2	2	5	0	.233
1967	DET	21	20	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	.100
1969	SDP	17	16	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	.063
Career	—	462	762	61	145	19	1	2	50	32	108	1	.190

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1953	BRO	9	4	33	18	0	115.0	126	54	64	82	4.23
1954	BRO	11	7	29	21	0	151.2	147	72	53	79	4.27
1955	BRO	9	10	27	24	0	159.1	160	70	57	114	3.95
1957	BRO	12	9	31	27	3	196.0	168	58	44	109	2.66
1958	LAD	13	15	39	31	1	210.1	208	87	78	143	3.72
1959	LAD	14	9	34	29	0	195.0	192	89	74	145	4.11
1960	LAD	14	12	34	33	0	227.2	217	78	71	159	3.08
1961	LAD	18	5	32	29	0	182.2	192	76	51	124	3.74
1962	LAD	15	13	40	40	0	255.0	270	108	71	178	3.81
1963	LAD	14	12	37	34	1	198.1	196	78	64	134	3.54
1964	LAD	0	2	2	2	0	2.2	5	5	3	0	16.88
1965	LAD	7	6	27	22	1	134.0	126	51	39	63	3.43
1966	DET/LAD	4	5	37	13	4	109.1	108	41	35	54	3.38
1967	DET	3	1	21	8	1	63.1	58	27	11	34	3.84
1969	SDP	5	6	17	9	0	64.2	66	31	28	17	4.31
Career	—	148	116	440	340	11	2265.0	2239	925	743	1435	3.68

On this day & linked events

1932

Born September 30, 1932

Witherbee, NY, USA

2008

Died January 13, 2008

1953

Major-league debut: Johnny Podres

Johnny Podres made a major-league debut on April 17, 1953.

1969

Final major-league game: Johnny Podres

Johnny Podres played a final major-league game on June 21, 1969.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain