A few years back, REA auctioned an original Type 1 Contact Proof of this picture, obviously the one that Gerry Dvorak used when commissioned by Topps to create the 1953 Topps Johnny Podres painting. (It sold for a mere $540...)
My question is, can anyone shed further light on this photo and exactly when it would have been taken? It's obviously at Yankee Stadium, however wouldn't the '53 set (even the high numbers) had to have been already done by the time the '53 World Series rolled around? I looked, and Podres did not make his MLB debut until April of 1953. So this pic would not have been from the '52 World Series. An exhibition game in the spring perhaps?
This kind of stuff has just always been intriguing to me. In subsequent years, the Dodgers re-used this pic a few times, and even airbrushed an "LA" on to his cap to use it after '58. They must have like it a lot. From my take, this is one of the very best looking Brooklyn Dodgers cards. I guess because most '53 Topps (including Jackie) were just tight portraits. Johnny in his pitching motion adds something to this one.
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