Bob Feller

June 16, 1990 Van Meter, Ia

As a 17-year old, Bob Feller made his debut with the Cleveland Indians, as he struck out eight St Louis Cardinals in a July 1936 exhibition game. Following this Feller struck out 15 St Louis Browns batters in August. In September Feller struck out 17 Philadelphia Athletics. With a 100-mph fastball Feller would earn the nickname "Rapid Robert"

Feller was named to the Baseball Writers Association of America as the Sporting News All-Star teams 1939-1941, 1946-1947.
Pitched 3 no-hit games, named Player of the Year 1940, pitched 12 one-hit games.
Inducted into the Baseball hall of Fame 1962

example of the Bob Feller rubber stamp cachet used in 1938 for the Bob Feller Homecoming

1990 a committee was formed in Feller's hometown of Van Meter, Ia to establish a museum in honor of their hometown hero. Feller would serve as Grand Marshall of the Fireman's Kids Day in June.
1994 ground breaking for the museum took place and the museum officially opened June 10, 1995.

2005 10th anniversary commemorative postmark

The Bob Feller Museum

Baseball Entertainment

Baseball and the movies have had a long relationship. From Babe Ruth, Abbott and Costello, Mantle and Maris, Bugs Bunny, Angels in the Outfield and Field of Dreams... Baseball has focused on biographies, love stories, comedies, life lessons and the supernatural..

Although there are not many stamps featuring baseball movies, there are many potential cachets on first day covers that bridge that gap..

Gary Cooper first day issue September 19, 2009, which features a Lou Gehrig cachet from Macintosh cachets, Hobby Link and a Robinson Stamps lino-print Lou Gehrig cachet with a Gary Cooper Beau Geste first day from 1999.  These envelopes utilize Cooper's portrayal of Gehrig in the 1942 film "Pride of the Yankees"

John Cusack - Eight Men Out

(Cusack is misspelled in the envelope)

Cusack portrayed Buck Weaver of the Chicago White Sox.

Wilford Brimley - The Natural

Bromley portrayed the manager of the NY Knights "Pop Fisher" in the film

2017.03.10 Monster Con, Cherry Hill, NJ

Both Brimley and Cusack appeared at the Monster Con, I just had to create a cover for their autographs, which commemorated their respective baseball films..

May 7, 1984 Opening Night - The Babe

The Babe hits Broadway not with a homer but a foul pop-up closing on May 20, after 5 performances. The show starred Max Gail of Barney Miller fame as The Babe. The show was written by Bob and Ann Acosta, directed by Noam Pitlik...

Pooh's On First - sketch by Charles Paul Wilson III

Abbott & Costello - Who's On First

Possibly the greatest comedy routine based on baseball. The concept of wordplay had been around for years. In vaudelville the concept was the Baker Scene, using Watt Street as the main focus. Wheeler and Woolsey used the concept in the 1930 movie Cracked Nuts looking at a map of the mythical Kingdom of Which.

Abbott and Costello refined the routine using baseball players names, around 1936. On the 1938 Kate Smith Hour radio program the team performed the routine. At times actual player names were used like Dizzy and Daffy Dean or Enos Slaughter, to which Costello replied "He knows Slaughter". In 1940 they performed the routine in their film debut One Night in the Tropics. 1945 the routine was again sued in The Naughty Nineties. this longer versions is considered the finest recorded version of the routine and is played at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

The routine would also be used on their radio and television shows.

A League of Their Own

Gambia used a souvenir sheet with a Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander stamp, along with images of James Stewart portraying Monty Stratton and Anthony Perkins as Jimmy Piersall

AAGPBL - 1993

August 6, 1993 South Bend, In

signed by Jane Moffet and Joan Berger Knebl

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed in 1943 to keep baseball alive after many male players were drafted into World War II and some minor league teams were disbanding.

The league lasted until 1954, with over 600 women playing in the league. In the first season there were four teams: South Bend Blue Sox, Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets.

One of the league highlights came in 1946, when an estimated 10,000 people saw a 1946 Fourth of July double-header in South Bend, In.

The league gained recognition in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 and by the 1992 Penny Marshall film, A League of Their Own.

a poor copy of the 2001 Racine Belles postmark from Racine, Wi

AAGPBL official site

Willie McGee - 1990

October 6, 1985 St Louis, Mo

National League Batting Champion

Hand drawn cachet postmarked October 3, 1990 Oakland, Ca. Final game of the season..

On August 29, 1990 the St Louis Cardinals traded Willie McGee to the Oakland Athletics. At the time McGee held the National League batting mark of .335. Although being traded to an American League team, McGee met the qualifications of winning the National League title with 542 plate appearances, he became the first player to wear an American League uniform while winning the National League Batting Championship..

October 3, 1990 in the final game of the season, the Oakland Athletics would end a Championship season losing to the California Angels 11-6. Although McGee did not play in that game, he would assist the Athletics to a 103-59 record for the American League West Championship. McGee would play in 29 games for the A's.

Lou Gehrig - 1989 JUNEX

USPS pictorial postmark used at the JUNEX 89 philatelic exhibition in Tokyo, Japan

Baseball Strike - 1981

Aug 10 1981 New York, NY - 2nd season

The 1981 Baseball Strike was the first work stoppage to effect Major League Baseball. On Feb 25 the Major League Baseball Players Association board approved a May 29 strike. The issue at hand was free agency compensation.

On May 28 the players and owners met with National Labor Relations Board officials and agreed to put off a strike deadline while negotiations continued with the owners.

June 10, Judge Henry Werker of the US District Court, Rochester, NY rejects the NLRB request and on June 12 the players stage the first mid-season strike. Negotiations continued until July 31 when a tentative agreement was reached between the players and owners.

The players stayed off the field until August 9, when play resumed with the All-Star game played in Cleveland.

Actual games were resumed on Aug 10. Each team had played between 102 to 110 games and games were not made up to even out the schedule. Playoffs were held with the winner of each half season facing each other in the first playoff round.

On Aug 10 the New York Yankees would defeat the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium to open the second half of their season.

The Yankees would win the first half of their season, but finish 4th in the second half, giving them a playoff position. Their overall record was 59-48. The Texas Rangers would finish their first half in 2nd and their second half in 3rd with an overall record of 57-48.

The LA Dodgers would go on to defeat the NY Yankees in the World Series 4 - 2.

Lou Gehrig - 1989 - 2nd Day of Issue

June 11, 1989 - Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

2nd day of issue pictorial postmark

Meisel hand painted

unknown producer

Lou Gehrig - 1989 Starpex

November 4, 1989 Canton, Ohio

Starpex show pictorial postmark

Starpex - Baseball Sesquicentennial cachet with Gehrig official first day postmark

Show cachets by Emmett Boyd

Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary

50th Anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary

Red Schoendenist - Wild Horse cachet

Cardarelli cachet

Lou Gehrig - 1989 "Protest"

I came across these "protest" cachets for the Lou Gehrig stamp. The cachet maker is protesting the request of the Estate of Eleanor Gehrig to be compensated for the use of the likeness of husband Lou Gehrig. I have read that most of the practice of compensation for using the likeness of a deceased celebrity came from the family of Bela Lugosi, who fought against anyone using the likeness of their father in advertising abasing their wishes. They did not feel it was right for anyone to  profit from their father without their say in how his likeness would be used and without compensation. Is it greed or truly the American business creed to earn a dollar.

I am sure the maker of these cachets would not appreciate their likeness being used without compensation. It is his right to protest, but I find it interesting that he does not identify himself on any of the envelopes produced.