US POSTAL HISTORY BLOG

Anyone who’s attended a baseball game and stood up for the ubiquitous 7th inning stretch has probably sung along to one of the most popular baseball songs of all time. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” has been part of baseball history for decades and a stamp celebrating the 100th anniversary of the tuneful ditty will be issued as part of the USPS 2008 commemorative series.
 
The 2008 commemorative stamp series “celebrates our greatest creative minds, our groundbreaking heroes, and the places, institutions and values that have made us who we are,” says Postmaster General John Potter in a USPS press release. “We’re proud to be able to highlight noteworthy parts of our shared American history on stamps that people will use every day to connect with family and friends.
 
According to baseball lore, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was created on a New York City train in the summer of 1908. Passenger Jack Norworth, an actor, singer and songwriter who had never attended a major-league ball game, is credited with writing the words after seeing a sign about an upcoming game at the Polo Grounds.
 
The graphic of the 2008 baseball stamp is based on a circa-1880 trading card. The rare card is in the personal collection of art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ. The original artwork is a baseball scene and contains advertising copy for a product made by a Michigan company. The USPS issue features the same scene, but replaces the ad copy with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the stamp denomination, notes from the music, and the words “United States of America.

It’s still only February, but ‘spring’ is in the air…spring training that is…and the start of a new season of baseball.
 
It stands to reason that a subject as beloved as baseball has naturally become part of postal history. And unlike collectible baseball cards, collectible baseball stamps are generally inexpensive and easy to transport and store.
 
In 1939, U.S. Postmaster General James A. Farley proposed that a new 3-cent baseball commemorative stamp be issued to coincide with the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame the same year. Surprisingly, a nationwide poll of collectors voted overwhelmingly against it. But stamp-collecting President Roosevelt vetoed their vote and spread the word through the nation’s sports pages that he wished “every boy in America” could get a first-day cover from the new issue. Continue reading

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James E. Lee’s Special Weekly Email Newsletter - No. 175
Presidents Day 30% off sale on most Unsold-One-Of-A-Kind
http://www.jameslee.com/index.html
 
February 19, 2008
 
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We a celebrating the day after Presidents Day with a 30% off sale. It applies to all Unsold One-of-a-Kind items shown with the title in red. This offers remains in effect for the next week.
 
There are a couple of new titles listed just below. Once again this year you will continue to see a wealth of new titles. Lower production costs and new technologies are making publishing accessible to just about anyone.
 
Several new essay pieces have been added to the essay and proof section. A 371 first day cover with a strip of three has been added to the cover section. This may be the largest multiple on cover.
 
There are still two exceptional proof items remaining from our 47th newsletter. The first is a perfect set of the Tran-Mississippi Roosevelt small die proof. This is the finest set that we have seen in 30 years, click here and then scroll down. The second is a mounted set of the 1902 Series, click here and then scroll down. You will find both on the essay and proof pages of out website.
 
If you did not receive a copy of our four-color newsletter no. 47 mailed out in early January let us know and a copy will be sent to you. Ever since it started snowing here in mid-December we have been plagued with both email and computer problems. Some of our mailing list addresses just seemed to disappear. Spring can not come soon enough to Cary.
 
We will again have a booth at the St. Louis Stamp Expo at the end of the month. This show is one of the premier shows on the APS World Series circuit and we worth a visit. We hope to see you there. Continue reading

An independent federal agency, the USPS gives new meaning to the phrase ‘full service.’ delivery. With its army of men and women in uniform, the USPS is the only delivery service in America with the will and the way to visit every address in the nation. (And that’s regardless of snow, rain, sleet, and other carrier-unfriendly conditions including dogs!)
 
The Postal Service works hard to earn its annual revenue of $75 billion, delivering nearly half the world’s mail. Much of the credit for that work and that revenue goes to USPS postage stamps. BUT…with the online stamps readily available, are USPS stamps becoming the Edsel of the postage world?
 
Nearly 10 years ago, on March 21, 1998, technology site C/Net announced, “The Postal Service cemented its place in the Internet age today with the unveiling of the first electronic stamps.” The launch of the stamps represented the first new form of postage approved in 78 years. (In 1920, the Postal Service approved postage meters, still commonly used by businesses.)
 
Many people said e-stamps would be the death knell for traditional stamps and the end of beautifully designed commemorative and definitive issues…not to mention the end of nearly 200 years of U.S. postal stamp collecting. But a decade later, stamps are as strong as ever. The 2008 Commemorative Postage series is as eagerly anticipated as any before it.
 
Yes, the traditional stamp is alive and well and being purchased by the millions. And I don’t think that e-stamps will replace traditional stamps any more than I think that email will replace good old forms of communication like handwritten letters and cards. Cold technologically produced stamps will never replace warm, tangible bits of art. (Although I am in favor of the move from lick-and-stick stamps to self-adhesive!)
 
And here’s another thought. Interest in stamps has never been greater and the Internet fuels that interest with thousands of websites that provide information, auctions, and opportunities to purchase stamps.
 
In the long run, the medium that some thought threatened the creation of postage stamps may, in fact, be the reason they thrive.

In 1939, the post office at Cooperstown (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame) was swamped with requests from young baseball fans eager to collect a first day cover and the year’s newly issued baseball stamp. Unfortunately, the requests for the special issue frequently arrived without the required self-addressed envelope plus three cents for the stamp.
 
Local postmaster Melvin Bundy honored thousands of those requests out of his own pocket, and US baseball stamp collecting was born, thanks to what were affectionately known as “small boy orders.”