1996 Summer Olympics - Softball

 LMG cachet

Fleetwood cachet

Collins

Artcraft

Artcraft (enhanced)

Artcraft - Postal Commemorative Society

1996 Summer Olympics - Softball

The 1996 Summer Olympic Games - XXVI Olympiad were also the Centennial Olympic Games, held in Atlanta, Ga from July 19 to August 6

Women's Softball made it's inaugural olympic appearance as an official medal sport. The games were held at Golden Park, Columbus, Ga

Final Team Standings:

United States (8-1) - Gold medal

China (6-4) - Silver medal

Australia (6-3) - Bronze medal

Japan (6-3)

Canada (3-4)

Chnese Taipei (Taiwan) (2-5)

Netherlands (1-6)

Puerto Rico (1-6)

United Staes defeats China for the Gold Medal 3-1

Australia defeats Japan for the Bronze medal 4-2

The USPS issued a sheet of 20 stamps to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics being held in Atlanta, Ga.

The stamps were issued on May 2, 1996 Atlanta, Ga. One of the stamps features a softball catcher.

The back of the stamp features explanatory text

The stamps were designed by Richard Waldrep, Sparks, Md

Stamp Program cover

New York Yankees - Monument Park

Monument Park, Yankee Stadium, is an open-air museum located behind centerfield in Yankee Stadium. The Park features a collection of monuments, plaques and retired numbers honoring distinguished members of the Yankees and events that took place in Yankee Stadium

In 1929, Yankees manager Miller Huggins died unexpectantly, leading the Yankee organization to honor him by placing a monument featuring a brass plaque mounted on an upright piece of granite in front of the flag pole in centerfield. Many fans believed this was Huggins final resting place. Mounments for Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth would eventually be placed on either side of Huggins

When the Stadium was remodeled in 1974-1975, the centerfield fence was moved in, enclosing the centerfield monuments and taking them out if the field of play. With the addition of plaques for Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, the area became known as Monument Park. The DiMaggio and Mantle plaques would be moved and mounted on red granite blocks.

When the stadium was rebuilt, Monument Park was included in the centerfield design. Besides honoring Yankees players and executives, the heroes of the 9-11 tragedy, Pope Paul IV, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, Nelson Mandela and the Stonewall Inn Uprising

 Mantle making a catch in front of the monuments - 1959

2019

Tris Speaker

April 7, 1987 Hubbard, Tx

Tris Speaker (1888-1958 born Hubbard, Texas) is considered to be one of the best offensive and defensive centerfielders, compiling a career batting ave of .345. 3,514 hits, 792 doubles. His 449 outfield assists gave rise to his glove being known as the place where triples go to die!

After playing in the minors in Texas and Arkansas, Speaker would premiere with the Boston Americans (Red Sox) 1907-1915. He would go on to play for the Cleveland Indians (1916-1926) Washington Senators (1927) and Philadelphia Athletics (1928)

Career highlights -

• 3-time World Series champion
• AL MVP - 1912
• AL batting champ - 1916
• Baseball Hall of Fame - 1937
• Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame - 1951
• Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame - 1995

Tris Speaker signature on envelope. Having seen many of these on auction sites, I can image the collector would receive the signature and then have the envelope postmarked at the location to signature was obtained. The postmark is Aug 4, 1954 Minneapolis, Mn. The reverse has the return address of Sigurd Burg, Minneapolis, Mn

PSACard

Speaker was featured along with Babe Ruth, George Alexander, Everett Scott on a set of transfers (the image is reversed) produced in Germany 1923

1927 Rinkydink stamps - printed as part of the Winnie Winkle comic strip. The family's adopted son Perry and his friends were known as Rinkydinks, therefore the Sunday color comics featured the set of Rinkydink Stamps

The Rinkydink stamp would be printed within the comics banner

Tris Speaker was also featured as one of the stamps issued in 1939 as part of the Baseball Centennial celebration. The set included 25 stamps (15 portraits and 10 key events) along with a 36-page album

Speaker would also be honored as part of the USPS 2000 Legends of Baseball issue

Long Island Ducks - ALPB

2000-Apr-28 Central Islip, NY

The Long Island Ducks compete in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent high-level league. The Ducks played their first game in 2000, 2-years after the start of the league. The home park for the Ducks is Bethpage Ballpark (Suffolk County Ballpark)

Former NY Met, Bud Harrelson is part-owner and was the team's first manager

All-Star Game - 2018 Washington DC

July 17, Washington DC - Nationals Park
American League defeats National League 8-6
Winning Pitcher: Edwin Diaz (Mariners) - Losing Pitcher: Ross Stripling (Dodgers)
Starting Pitchers: Chris Sale (Red Sox) - Max Scherzer (Nationals)
The game broke a home run record, as ten were hit in the game; the previous being six. All but one run was scored by way of a home run
AL HRs: Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Jean Segura, Alex Bregman, George Springer
RBI: Segura 3, Trout, Michael Brantley, Judge, Bregman, Springer
NL HRs:Wilson Contreras, Trevor Story, Christian Yelich, Scooter Gennett, Joey Votto
RBI: Gennett 2, Votto, Yelich, Story, Contreras

MVP: Alex Bregman (Astros)

All-Star Game - 1980 Los Angeles

July 8, 1980 Los Angeles, California  -  Dodger Stadium

National League  4-2  American League

MVP : Ken Griffey - Cincinnati Reds

NL RBI : Ken Griffey (HR), Dave Winfield, George Hendrick

AL RBI : Fred Lynn (HR)

Starting Pitchers : JR Richards (NL) Steve Stone (AL)

51st midseason exhibition held between the all-stars of the National League and American League.

Rod Carew and Pete Rose played in their 14th game

Johnny bench played in his 13th game

Reggie Jackson played in his 10th game

Steve Stone pitched 3 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts

Jerry Reuss struck out the side in the 6th inning

Toledo Mud Hens - MiLB

1995-July-16 Toledo, Ohio - - Frank Ellis cachet

1996-July-16 Toledo and Maumee, Ohio

1996-Feb-24/25 Toledo Oh
1996 was the centennial anniversary of baseball in Toledo, which played in 1896 as the Swamp Angels in the Interstate League at Bay View Park, outside the Toledo city limits. The area was inhabited by the American coot, which is known as a mud hen

The Mud Hens played in the American Association in 1903, until the team moved to Wichita in 1955

 In 1965 an International League team from Richmond relocated to Toledo and adopted the name Mud Hens as a Triple-A affiliate for the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers

The Toledo Mud Hens are a minor league team currently playing in the International league as an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Home games are played at Fifth Third Field, which opened in 2002 replacing Ned Skeldon Stadium

Toledo Mud Hens Centennial adhesive backed sticker issued by the Stamp Collectors Club of Toledo in conjunction with Toledo Expo 96. The labels were issued in a sheet of 32 with the left upper corner using the slogan "Toledo Stamp Expo 96" and the lower right corner with the slogan "Stamp Collectors Club of Toledo" - Baseball is My Life

1946

1965

1974

2019
June 18 meter, the Mud hens defeated the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs 2-1
RBIs: Mud Hens - Pete Kozma, Jacob Robsen - Ironpigs - Mitch Walding
Winning Pitcher: Tim Adleman

Albany New York : MiLB

1984 - Albany A's

1990 - Albany-Colonie Yankees meter

The Albany baseball team was known as the Albany A's in their inaugural 1983 season and the Albany-Colonie A's in 1984 after their Major League Baseball affiliate, the Oakland Athletics. They were renamed the Albany-Colonie Yankees in 1985 when they became an affiliate of the New York Yankees. The team retained the Yankees moniker through their final season in 1994

Heritage Park - Times Union archives

Don Baylor : New York Yankees

Aug 29, 1985 New York - Yankee Stadium

Don Baylor set the American League record of most times hit by a pitch with 190, when he was hit by Kirk McCaskill

The Yankees defeated the California Angels 4-0

Don Baylor - Batting ave .260, 338 home runs 1,276 RBI

• Baltimore Orioles 1970-1975
• Oakland Athletics 1976, 1988
• California Angels 1977-1982
• New York Yankees 1983-1985
• Boston Red Sox 1986-1987
• Minnesota Twins 1987
• Colorado Rockies - Mgr 1993-1998
• Chicago Cubs - Mgr 2000-2002

Dennis Martinez

1991-July-28 Los Angeles - Dodger Stadium

Dennis "EL Presidente" Martinez pitched a perfect game as the Montreal Expos defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0.  The first Nicaraguan to play in the majors, Martinez is the first Latin pitcher to throw a perfect game. Martinez threw 96 pitches, 66 for strikes with 5 strikeouts

Martinez played from 1976-1998 for the Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves

Career:

• W-L record 245-193
• ERA 3.60
• Strikeouts 2,149
• 4-time All-Star
• MLB Wins Leaders 1981
• MLB ERA Leader 1991
• Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame - 2002
• Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame - 2016