Campanella, Greenberg, Ott and Mantle

Scioto

New Stamps Honor Baseball Sluggers
Friday, July 14, 2006 2:07 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

WASHINGTON (AP) — The post office hopes to hit a grand slam by honoring a quartet of baseball's great sluggers on postage.

Ceremonies are scheduled for Yankee Stadium on Saturday to release new 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards honoring Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Hank Greenberg and Mel Ott.

"He was, surprisingly, kind of self-effacing and humble in many ways, but he would be pleased," to be honored on a stamp said Greenberg's daughter, Alva Greenberg of New London, Conn. "Who wouldn't be pleased," she said in a telephone interview.

"I think that while he was playing ball, and after his career, a lot of his notoriety was within the Jewish community," she added. "I'm happy we've gotten beyond that now."

Mantle's son Danny said his dad "would love it."

"He played 18 years with the Yankees. We're obviously very proud of him," Danny said. "He played hurt and still had a heck of a career," Danny Mantle, who lives in the Dallas area, said by phone.

Barbara Schneidau of Tucson, Ariz., Mel Ott's daughter, said in a telephone interview that her father "would have been just delighted, honored and very proud."

"Dad exemplified courage and athletic talent," Campanella's daughter Joni Roan said in a statement. "Our family is very grateful for this recognition."

Campanella was major-league baseball's first African-American catcher. He played in five World Series and hit 242 home runs during a decade with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Ott was a star for the New York Giants for 22 seasons, leading the league in homers five times. He was the first National League player to hit 500 home runs.

Mantle was a speedy base runner and switch-hitter for the New York Yankees for nearly two decades. He won the triple crown in 1956, leading the American league in batting at .353 with 52 home runs and 139 and runs batted in. Mantle set World Series records for runs, 42; home runs, 18 and RBIs, 40.

Greenberg was the first Jewish superstar in the major leagues. He was named most valuable player at first base and a second time as an outfielder. He was on five all-star teams and had a career batting average of .313 with 1,276 RBIs. He played most of his career with the Detroit Tigers, having turned down a Yankee offer to back up Lou Gehrig, correctly predicting that Gehrig's career would be a long one.

After serving in World War II Greenberg returned to the Tigers in 1945, hitting a home run in his first game back. He blasted a grand slam the last day of the season to help the Tigers win the pennant and had two homers and seven runs batted in to propel them to a World Series victory.

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UncleWiggly

If you haven't already, I'm going to link this to the Sports Forum. Thanks for the info on Mark Greenberg. I didn't know anything about him. Hey, why didn't they honor Frank Chance? LOL.



Jerry

perkdog

Sweet artwork, when will they be available, and can I grab them at the post office?

Scioto

<< <i>Sweet artwork, when will they be available, and can I grab them at the post office? >>



"Ceremonies are scheduled for Yankee Stadium on Saturday to release new 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards honoring Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Hank Greenberg and Mel Ott."

Probably available in larger PO's in a week or two. I'll have to check.

1977topps

I picked up three sheets this morning. They are really nice, I will probably buy a few more.