# 4694-97c - 2012 First-Class Forever Stamp - Imperforate Major League Baseball All-Stars

US #4694-97c
2012 Major League Baseball All-Stars (Imperforate)

• Commemorates four MLB Hall of Famers and the impact they’ve had on baseball
• Reminders of great moments in the history of America’s pastime

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Value:  45¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue:  July 20, 2012
First Day City:  Cooperstown, New York*
Quantity Issued:  80,000,000 (Includes die-cut AND imperforate stamps. The exact quantity of imperforate stamps is unknown, but it is only a tiny fraction of the total print quantity, making the imperforates much scarcer than traditional die-cut stamps.)
Printed by:  Avery Dennison (AVR)
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20
Perforations:  Die Cut 11
Tagging:  Phosphored, Type II

Why the stamps were issued:  To celebrate some of the greatest MLB players of all time.

About the stamp designs:  Each stamp pictures a different famous baseball player: Ted Williams, Larry Doby, Willie Stargell, and Joe DiMaggio. Artwork by painter and illustrator Kadir Nelson of Los Angeles, California. He based the stamp art on historic photographs of the four players.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

*The following day (July 21), there were additional First Day of Issue Ceremonies for the individual stamps at the respective players’s hometowns: Boston, Massachusetts (Ted Williams); Cleveland, Ohio (Larry Doby); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Willie Stargell); and New York, New York (Joe DiMaggio).

History the stamp represents:  The great poet Walt Whitman is widely credited with saying, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game – the American game.” Whitman’s prediction proved true, as America’s love of baseball turned it into the national pastime.

Now, our love affair is so deep that the game’s biggest stars can rise to become national heroes. In 2012, the US Postal Service honored four players whose drive for greatness transcended feats of skill.

Joe DiMaggio became a national hero through his seemingly effortless ability and storybook romance with Marilyn Monroe. Ted Williams said, “When I walk down the street, I want people to say ‘There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.’” Many fans and historians think he succeeded.

Willie Stargett played 21 years for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a career highlighted by mammoth home runs. As the second black player in the Major Leagues (and the first in the American League) Larry Doby faced the same obstacles as Jackie Robinson. But “the media didn’t want to tell the same story twice,” Doby said. He excelled with grace and dignity.

These All-Stars, each of them Hall of Famers, found their way into baseball immortality by different paths. With every base hit and home run, they created their own legends.