Hooray for Hollywood

You know, if you look at this postcard quickly, you might think it says “Alibi Ike,” which is a famous baseball story by Ring Lardner which was made into a movie starring Joe E. Brown in 1935. Appropriate that, because this is a postcard from the Hollywood Stars, a team that played in the Pacific Coast League for most of three decades beginning in 1926. Actually, it says Al Libke, who was an outfielder who had had some significant playing time with the Reds in 1945 and ‘46.

This is one of a set of 14 postcards for sale from the 1947 Stars team. Probably their best-known player that year was Gus Zernial. He hit 40 homers for them the next season and then embarked on a big league career that included 237 home runs. His nickname (other than the “Dutch” seen here)? “Ozark Ike” - which sort of brings us back around to the beginning.