A Koufax Tropicana Hotel Postcard - Sandy in a Dodger Uniform

Many moons back I briefly wrote about an oddball postcard I had run into. It is from the famous Tropicana Hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard, and it prominently featured Dodger legend Sandy Koufax. Check out that original post here (I wrote a bit about the hotels fun and sordid past).

As you'll recall, Sandy had purchased the facility in the early 60's, and wisely sought to cash in on his fame and popularity by using himself as an promotional tools. As a result, they issued various postcards splattered with either his name and/or face.

At the time, I was only aware of a casually dressed Koufax in these postcards (see that on the right), but now I realize a postcard exist with him in Dodger Blue -- albeit, with a poorly drawn-on Dodger uni. You can see that postcard at the very top of this post.

Blog Kiosk: 9/14/2017 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

Last Nights win puts the Dodgers magic number at seven. Yu Darvish was fantastic on the mound as he recorded seven shutout innings to lead the team. Just in time, eh? Darvish was not looking like the pitcher we thought we got. Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"It's more like if I keep pitching like that with that kind of results, I'm not going to be able to pitch in the playoffs," Darvish said. "The Dodgers got me for that situation, the playoffs. That was my concern."

Overall, Dodger pitchers struck out seven Giants and their offense recorded seven hits. Best yet, Cody Belling hit his first homer into McCovey Cove. Per Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider:

“You always see it when you’re growing up watching Barry Bonds do it,” Bellinger said of the splash homer. “To actually do it, it’s pretty cool.”

The home run was Belli's 37th of the year -- just one shy of the National League record for a rookie. He also had seven total bases. Pic above via SportsNet LA on twitter. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1945, during an overnight trip between St. Louis and Chicago, the Brooklyn Dodgers train rammed into an gasoline truck, sending flames everywhere.  The train engineer and a firefighter were killed.  The Dodgers survived without serious injury because the momentum of their section carried it through the burning remains.  I had previously written about this incident here. In 1993 Mike Piazza hit home runs no. 29 and 30 to break the Major League record for homers by a rookie catcher. In 2002 Dodger infielder Chin-Feng Chen becomes the first Taiwan-born player to appear in the major leagues. He would get a pinch-hit walk and score on a double by Mike Kinkade.
• Happy Birthday, John Douglas, Stan Williams & Tim Wallach & Jerry Doggett! Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider wrote a great piece celebrating Doggett's 100th birthday last year (link here).