Don Mattingly : New York Yankees

1984-Sep-30 - Yankee Stadium - New York, NY

Mattingly wins Batting Title with .343 average

1985-Oct-03 - Yankee Stadium - New York

Breaks Roger Maris RBI record

1985-Nov-20 New York, NY - American League MVP

1986-Oct-04/05 - Fenway Park - Boston, Ma

Record for most hits and most doubles in a season

1987-Jul-19 New York, NY - Gold Glove presentation for 1986 season

1987-Jul-18 - Arlington Stadium - Arlington, Texas

8 consecutive games with a home run

1987-Sep-29 - Yankee Stadium - New York, NY

Records 6-Grand Slams in a single season

1988-Dec-07 New York, NY

Voted his 4th consecutive Gold Glove Award

Don Mattingly spent his entire 14-year career with the New York Yankees, earning the nicknames "Donnie Baseball" and "The Hit Man"

6-time All-Star (1984-1989)

AL MVP (1985)

9-time Gold Glove Award (1985-1989, 1991-1994)

3-time Silver Slugger Award (1985-1987

AL Batting Champion (1984)

AL RBI Leader (1985)

New York Yankees retired his #23 - 1997-August-31

Hideki Nakano Local Post

Hideki Nakano was a philatelic cover artist, his creative pieces were started around 1983. His production run was usually around 40 pieces and included his own local post stamp and postmark in conjunction with official postage and postmarks. The covers were humorous in nature. Nakano  lived in the Detroit area, so his covers show is love of the Detroit Tigers, especially during the 1984 World Series.

A local post is defined as a mail service that operates within a limited geographical area. Currently local posts are more commemorative as well as functional in some locations.

Kansas City Royals

April 8, 1969 Kansas City, Mo  UPCS cachet

The Royals played their inaugural game at Municipal Stadium against the Minnesota Twins, taking the victory 4-3.

The winning pitcher was Moe Drabowsky, who pitched in the ninth as the Royals scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Royals RBIs came from Jerry Adair, Lou Piniella, Joe Keogh and Jim Campania.

Joe Grenada took the loss for the Twins, who received RBIs from Harmon Killebrew, Graig Nettles and Rich Reese. Graig Nettles homered for the Twins

1968

Super Summer logo - 1977 meter cancel

Catch Royalmania - 1978 meter cancel

April 7, 1998 Opening Day
The Royals opened up at home after going 3-4 on the road against the Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles started their season at 6-1, continued to dominate defeating the Royals 11-7.
Scott Ericsson earned the victory for the Orioles, while Glendon Rusch took the loss.
Orioles runs came from RBIs by Joe Cater (4), Eric Davis (3), Rafael Palmer (2), Lenny Webster and Jeffrey Hammonds.
HomeRuns from Lenny Webster and Eric Davis
Royals RBIs came from Jeff King (3), Jose Offerman (2), Dean Palmer and Johnny Damon
Home Runs from Jeff King and Dean Palmer

2015

Bernie Williams

October 22, 1997 New York, NY

Bernie Williams Gold Glove

September 27, 1998

Batting Title

Bernie Williams played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues, all with the New York Yankees, from 1991-2006.  He was a member of four World Series teams, finishing his career with a .297 BA, 1,257 RBI, 287 doubles.

Williams won 4-Gold Gloves (1997-2000), a Silver Slugger (2002) and the American League Championship Series MVP (1996) and was a 5-time All-Star

The Yankees retired Williams jersey #51 May 2015.

Inside the Park - Somerset Patriots

Another visit to the local Somerset Patriots:

 MLB passport cancel had not been updated from Jul 11.

Signed by pitcher Amalio Diaz #38, coach Marty Janzen #36 (Toronto Blue Jays)

pitcher Matt Soren #35

Jul 12, 2015 Somerset Patriots, Bridgewater, NJ

The Long Island Ducks defeated the Patriots 7-2

Florida/Miami Marlins

July 21, 1993 Ft Lauderdale, Fla (inaugural season)

Florida Marlins business envelope with beautiful graphics and a meter cancel

on the day rookie Pat Rapp singled home 2-runs and pitched six innings for his first major league victory as the Marlins defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-4.

Marlins rookie Jeff Conine had a single in the fifth, making him the first Marlin to reach 100 hits

April 5, 1993 Miami, Fl - Opening Day - Inaugural Game

The Miami Marlins defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3

Bret Barberie records the first Marlins' hit. Barberie would get 2 hits in 4 at-bats in the game

Marlins RBI: Walt Weiss (2), Scott Pose, Benito Santiago

Winning Pitcher: Charlie Hough

Dodgers RBI: Jody Reed, Jose Offerman, Tim Wallach

Dodger HR: Tim Wallach

Losing Pitcher: Orel Hershiser

October 26, 1997 Miami, Florida

Marlins Win the World Series

The Marlins finished the 1997 season with a record of 92-70 to come in 2nd in the NL East earning the NL Wild Card berth. The Marlins would defeat the San Francisco Giants and then the Atlanta Braves for the NL Championship.

The Marlins would go on to defeat the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 3 for the World Championship title...

April 3, 1998 Ft Lauderdale, Fl - Metroexpo station

Commemorating the 1997 Championship

April 3, the Marlins were already 1-3, before losing their fourth game of the season to the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1, behind 3 home runs from Jose Valentin

The Florida Marlins would finish the 1998 season 5th in the NL East with a record of 58-104...

2005 - New Hampshire Fisher Cats

April 3, 2005

Hooksett, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, are based in Manchester, New Hampshire. The team plays in the Eastern League, Double-A baseball..

The team originated as the New Haven Ravens, and were sold in 2003 to Drew Weber owner of the Lowell Spiners. The team was moved to New Hampshire in 2004, playing in Gill Stadium. In 2005 the team moved to the  Fisher Cats Ballpark (later named Merchantsauto.com Stadium and then Northeast Delta Dental Stadium).

2002 - Joseph Bruno Stadium

Joseph Bruno Stadium is located on the campus of Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, New York. The stadium is home to the Tr-City Valley Cats of the New York-Penn League

The park was named in honor of New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. The park opened on April 6, 2002

Milwaukee Brewers

April 7, 1970 Milwaukee, Wi

The Brewers played their inaugural game at County Stadium against the California Angels

The Angels would win the game 12-0, behind the pitching of Andy Messersmith, who pitched a complete game, giving up only 4-hits. Lew Krausse took the loss.

1974

1978

2007

Milwaukee Brewers, originally founded as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. The team moved after one season to Milwaukee and were renamed the Brewers. Starting the 1970 season in the American League, the Brewers would move to the National League in 1998.

1994

Seattle Pilots

April 11, 1969 Sick's Stadium, Seattle, Wa

Inaugural home game

Seattle Pliots  7 - 0  Chicago White Sox

Opening day victory, after a 2-1 road trip to face the California Angels

Pilots RBIs: Gary Bell 2; Don Mincher 2 (HR); Jerry McNertney; Tommy Harper; Rich Rollins

Pitching: Gary Bell complete game shutout, 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, 4 walks

Joe Horlen (L-Chi) 3-innings; 3 runs, 4 hits

Seattle Pilots business envelope wth meter cancel promoting the team 

"Come see the Pilots Play - Sicks Stadium"

The Seattle Pilots were a 1969 American League expansion team, which lasted one season.  The franchise would move to Milwaukee. The team would finish the season 64-98.

Sicks Stadium was located in Rainier Valley and was home to the Seattle Rainers of the Pacific Coast League. The site was the previous location of Dugdale Field, a 1913 ballpark, home of the Seattle Indians

Willie McCovey

1978-June-30 500 Home runs

1984-July-30 - 25th anniversary of first game

1986-July-06 San Francisco, Ca

Willie McCovey Day - Candlestick Park

Willie McCovey was called "the scariest hitter in baseball" by pitcher Bob Gibson. McCovey played for the San Francisco Giants from 1959-1973 and 1977-1980. He also played for the San Diego Padres from 1974-1976 and the Oakland Athletics in 1976.

McCovey hit a total of 521 home runs. 231 were hit in Candlestick Park, home of the San Francisco Giants from 1960-1999. On September 16, 1966 McCovey hit a home that was considered the longest home run ever hit at the Stick.

In his Major League debut on July 30, 1959, McCovey went 4-for-4 against Robin Roberts and the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting two triples and two singles. He would be awarded NL Player of the Month for August and NL Rookie of the Year.

McCovey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1986
Listed as one of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players by The Sporting News
SF Giants wrecked a statue of McCovey across from McCovey Cove
SF Giants retired his number 44 on September 21, 1980

1913 Tour - Chicago white Sox v New York Giants

1918, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey launched a world wide tour to promote baseball. The tour began on Oct 18, 1913 taking the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox through the Midwest, the West Coast, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Sydney, Caro, Rome, Paris and London.

An advertisement was place in the Blue Rapids Times, with a guarantee of $1,000.00 to bring the game to town. And the town turned out. A special sail service was commissioned with 11 passenger trains for the teams and fans to arrive to the small town of Blue Rapids. The crowd was near 3,000, with estimates over closer to 5,000. Blue Rapids was a town of 1,800...

Fans paid $1.00 in advance and $1.50 general admission at the door.

The game started at 2:30pm, Joe Benz of the White Sox facing Hooks Wiltse of the Giants.
Wilts would give up 4 home runs in the game, as the White Sox won 8-5.
Buck Weaver led the Sox, going 3 for 4, with every member of the White Sox getting at least one hit.

Larry Doyle, who helped the Giants to the NL pennant, went 4 for 4. Jim Thorpe got 2 hits in the Giants lead-off position
The great Christy Mathewson, made an appearance as first base coach for the Giants.

Posted September 28, 2013

By Kevin Haskin

Topeka Capital Journal

VintageBall