Ballpark Series

Ballpark Series from Zaso Silk

New York Yankees - 1987

1987-April-13 New York - Yankee Stadium

Cleveland Indians 3 - 11 New York Yankees

NYY RBI: Willie Randolph (5), Ron Kittle (3), Don Mattingly (2), Dave Winfield (HR - 1)

CLE RBI: Brook Jacoby (HR), Mel Hall(HR), Joe Carter (HR)

Pitching: CLE Greg Swindell (L 3-innings) NYY Charles Hudson 3-hit complete game

Stamp Show: Lincolnwood Il

1987-Jan-30 Babe Ruth 60 Home Run Season - Lincolnwood Il

New York Yankees - 1985

1984-Dec-21 New York NY

Dale Berra traded to NY Yankees

1985-Apr-16 New York

The New York Yankees opened the 1985 season at home with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox, after compiling 2-3 record on the road

The Yankees scored 5 runs, getting RBIs from Dave winfield (2), Butch Wynegar (2) and Don Baylor

Winfield would contribute with 2 home runs, Baylor and Wynegar hit one each

Dave Righetti picked up the win in relief of starter Ed Whitson

The White Sox picked up 4 RBIs from Harold Baines (2) and Greg Walker (2), with each player hitting a home run

Tim Lollar started the game, with Dan Spillner getting the loss

The 1985 season saw the Yankees finish 2nd in the Eastern Division, but not without drama. The season started with Yogi Berra as manager, being joined for the first time on the field by his son Dale (Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros), only to be replaced by Billy Martin after 16 games

Dale published a great book, in 2019, on the experience of growing ups in the Berra household, his time as a player, his drug addiction and his relationship with his father: My Dad, Yogi: A Memoir of Family and Baseball, by Dale Berra and Mark Ribowsky

1996 Summer Olympics - Baseball

 

Baseball had its second appearance as an official sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, with games played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Eight nations competed, with the preliminary round of each team facing every other team. The four highest ranked teams advanced to the playoff. The event was open to amateurs only, although amateur status was determined by the participating countries official governing body

Gold Medal: Cuba
Silver Medal: Japan
Bronze Medal: United States

4th: Nicaragua

5th: Netherlands

6th: Italy

7th: Australia

8th: South Korea

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