On June 12, 1939, the U.S. Post Office issue the first postage stamp to feature baseball in the United States. The 3-cent violet stamp commemorates the centennial of the invention of baseball, believed at the time to have been created by Abner Doubleday.
Doubleday, a career army officer, has long been credited with inventing the game and formalizing its rules in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. At that time, Doubleday was a cadet at West Point. Evidence of his baseball skills remain somewhat unknown.
The stamp has an appealing design showing a group of young boys playing baseball, a small town panorama in the background. The vignette features a batter, who has taken his stance, and the pitcher poised to deliver the ball. Bureau of Engraving artist William Roach designed the stamp, and later explained the site in his artwork is in Milford, Delaware (not Milford, New York) – not anywhere near Cooperstown.
Stamp Stats
Value: 3¢
Issue Date: June 12, 1939
First City: Cooperstown, New York
Quantity Issued: 81,269,600
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforation: 11×10 ½
Color: Violet
Vaclav Havel Airport Prague - International airport in Prague Formerly Prague Ruzyně International Airport, it… Read More
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup - International men's field hockey tournament The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup… Read More
David Thompson, the greatest practical land geographer that the world has produced ,(30 April 1770… Read More
Bessie Coleman - The First African American woman pilot Coleman, or Queen Bess as she… Read More
Jeanne Baret - The first woman to circumnavigate the globe Jeanne Baret was a talented… Read More
2nd Asian games 1954 Manila in Philippines The second edition of the Asian Games was… Read More