Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 8/14/2012

Ol' Blue Eyes.  He sang the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium in 1977 as a promise to his buddy Tommy Lasorda.  Go to this link for more of the story.  Pic via twitter @Dodgers.

• Eric Stephen at True Blue LA notes that Andre Ethier hasn't homered in quite a while.

Ethier has always been a streaky hitter so a temporary power outage isn't much of a surprise, but the lack of home runs for this long is a bit troubling for the Dodgers, especially when he has just two home runs in his last 61 games. Last year's power drought — 27 games without one, and just two home runs over his final 45 games — was followed by September knee surgery.

• Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts notes that left field has also faced a season long homer power outage, but that it appears to be a franchise problem.
• Brandon Lennox at True Blue LA notes that Rubby De La Rosa was solid in his recent rehab assignment in Arizona.
• The Chronicle of Fuji shares a drawing made by one of his students for Black History Month.  It's of Jackie Robinson.
• Jackie Robinson to be Celebrated at Civil Rights Game, via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com.

Rachel and Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson's widow and daughter, respectively, will be in attendance in Atlanta, where his Dodgers will take on Hank Aaron's Braves.

"We're delighted to support the Civil Rights Game and thrilled the Dodgers are playing the Atlanta Braves," Sharon Robinson said. "The breaking of the color barrier was one of the precursors to the civil rights movement. We're very happy Major League Baseball recognizes the movement. Having the Civil Rights Game allows us to move forward, while acknowledging the changes in baseball and in all of American society."

• Per Erik Malinowski at Deadspin, "Dictionary Researchers credit Gary Carter with Popularizing F-Bomb."
• Sports Collectors Daily shares a whole bunch of photos from the recently concluded National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore.
• Beckett post up a bunch of new photos from The National, as well.
• Old Time Family Baseball takes a look at the greatest Baseball POGS of all-time.
• I must share this.  This is World Order.  This is a band formed by former MMA fighter Genki Sudo.

Video Link:

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Legendary Auctions: Dodgers Memorabilia Part 1

Legendary Auctions is about to run a new auction and provides a preview for collectors to look through.  Fortunately, there are a bunch of great Dodgers related memorabilia.  In fact, there is so much I wanted to share I decided to cut it up into a couple of post.  Here is Part 1.

Below is a 1915 Fatima cigarettes advertising poster that features three National League stars; most notably Hall of Fame Dodger Zach Wheat.  Along with Wheat, Red Smith of the Boston Braves and Gavvy Cravath of the Philadelphia Phillies represent the "'Strong Arm' Squad" of the National League.

(Auction Link)

I really love this piece.  It is a 1912 S81 (the "S" denotes a silk product) Turkish Trophies tobacco premium featuring Brooklyn Robins pitcher Nap Rucker.  It measures  6-7/8" x 8-7/8" and was attained by submitting a certain number of coupons gotten from their cigarettes.  These are exceedingly rare and beautiful.

(Auction Link)

The hardest thing about collecting autographs from deceased ballplayers is determining its authenticity.  Fortunately, with the below cancelled check signed by Jackie Robinson that is not a problem.  It comes with a letter of provenance directly from his wife, Rachel Robinson.

(Auction Link)

(Auction Link)

I decided to go on a little tangent by including a memorabilia piece from my favorite all-time hockey player.  Below is a "Team of the Century" trophy given to former LA Kings star center Marcel Dionne.  It celebrates Canada's greatest hockey team, the 1972 Team Canada club that faced off against the Russians during the famed 1972 Summit Series.  Most Americans have no clue what this event is, but in Canada it brings out memories of joy and sheer happiness.  To Canadians, their victory over the mighty Russian team was like our 1980 gold medal Olympic victory in hockey. 

Marcel was just a rookie at the time, so he didn't play a minute of any of the 8 games.  Nevertheless, he was presented with this trophy when a statue memorializing  the victory was erected at the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

(Auction Link)

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Victorino Heats Up and Powers Dodgers Past Pirates

Victorino is starting to look pretty good at the top of the order.  Yesterday evening, he went 2 for 4, and blasted his first homer as a Dodger.  His home run was a deep line drive that easily climbed over the tall right field fence.  Click this link to see a video of his homer.  In all, Victorino drove in 3 runs and scored two himself. 

The pitching was also solid.  Aaron Harang went 6 innings and gave up 5 hits and 2 earned runs.  The bullpen held their own, but had several scares as Belisario coughed up 2 runs in his 1 inning of work.  Of special note was an exception defensive play by Randy Choate.  See the video below.

Video Link:

Javy Guerra got in trouble in the 7th inning, so Randy Choate came in to get the final out.  As you can see above, he gave up a hard liner towards his face that could have easily scored a run.  Fortunately, he was able to make a stab at it.

Overall, it was a nice 5 to 4 victory that keeps the Dodgers in the hunt for first place in the Western Division.

Photo Credit Above: Jon SooHoo/ LA Dodgers 2012:

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