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Headline June 17, 2006
Sluggers on Stamps:
What A Hit!
Baseball Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Hank Greenberg and
Mel Ott are on deck to be immortalized on the 39-cent "Baseball Sluggers"
postage stamps. The stamp images were unveiled in March at Mickey Mantle’s
restaurant in New York City and are set to be issued on July 15 at Yankee
Stadium before the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox game.
 “Baseball has been part of the American
heartbeat for more than a century,” said John E. Potter, Postmaster
General and Chief Executive Officer for the U.S. Postal Service, who
unveiled the stamp. “Sometimes something very special happens, the crack
is louder, the crowd roars harder and the ball defies gravity, these
stamps will do this on letters.”
Mickey Mantle was a famous switch-hitter
whose powerful home runs were matched by his impressive speed as a runner
and outfielder. Synonymous with the New York Yankees for nearly two
decades, Mantle was enormously popular with baseball fans and is still
considered one of the greatest players ever to take the field.
Joining Potter at the ceremony was Marty
Appel, former Public Relations Director of the New York Yankees. "This is
a great honor for these four important figures from New York baseball
history - three players who spent their Major League careers here, and the
fourth, Greenberg, who honed his skills at James Monroe High School in the
Bronx,” said Appel. “As magnificent an achievement as the Baseball Hall of
Fame is -- it is a far smaller group of players to have appeared on a U.S.
postage stamp. I think each of these revered players would have been awed
by this accomplishment.”
Roy Campanella who was Major League
baseball's first black catcher, played with the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a
talented all-around player, he hit 242 home runs during his ten-year Major
League career. A catcher in five World Series, he was named Most Valuable
Player three times.
Hank Greenberg is remembered as
baseball's first Jewish superstar and one of the all-time greatest
right-handed batters. Twice named MVP, he had a career batting average of
.313 and 1,276 RBIs and was selected to four consecutive All-Star teams
from 1937 to 1940.
Mel Ott is remembered for his easygoing
demeanor and his unusual but powerful high-leg-kick batting stance. Ott
distinguished himself with the New York Giants for 22 seasons and was the
first National League player to hit 500 home runs. He led the league in
home runs six times.
Artist Lonnie Busch of Franklin, North
Carolina based his designs on historic photographs, simplifying and
adapting the portraits to resemble old-fashioned baseball trading cards.
He also created the stamp art for Greetings from America (2002), 2004
Olympic Games * Athens, Greece (2004) and Wonders of America: Land of
Superlatives (2006).
international show ever staged in America. We congratulate its very
capable and tireless committee and volunteers! |
