A stamp honoring Ted Williams will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2012 – the 100th anniversary year of Fenway Park, where he starred for 19 seasons as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
A stamp honoring Ted Williams will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2012 – the 100th anniversary year of Fenway Park, where he starred for 19 seasons as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
The first day of issue has not been determined, but it most likely would be sometime during the baseball season, when it could be accompanied by a ceremony at Fenway.
“It was exciting news when we heard that the Postal Service will be honoring Ted’s memory,” said Dick Bresciani, a long-time executive for the Red Sox. “Now we have to wait to hear from Washington, D.C., about when the stamp will be issued. We’d love to have it be on a significant day in Ted’s career, so we can give proper recognition to it at Fenway.”
The Postal Service also will be issuing stamps honoring Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Willie Stargell and Larry Doby. The stamps were previewed recently by the Postal Service in separate order, with the Williams’ rendition being the last. It was previewed on Sept. 2.
In a statement issued to the Postal Service, Williams’ daughter Claudia said: “I am incredibly proud and honored to have the U.S. Postal Service commemorate my father in such a beautiful and lasting way. Dad would be completely humbled to know he was chosen to represent the U.S. in this way. His love and commitment to this great country is well known. The (stamp’s) artwork captures all the grace and determination of his best swing.”
When that first-issue day of the Williams stamp does come, it will be considered a triumph in perseverance for the BoSox Club, a Red Sox booster organization which has been pushing for a Williams commemorative stamp for 10 years.
Bruce Donahue, 71, of Hanover, a past president, spearheaded the BoSox Club’s Williams stamp initiative. The BoSox Club was formed in 1967; Donahue has been a member since 1969, serving as its president in 2007 and 2008.
Soon after the death of Williams on July 5, 2002, Donahue had the idea of a commemorative stamp, and made inquiries at the Postal Service.
With the Williams family and the Red Sox organization fully behind its efforts, the BoSox Club hoped to get the stamp issued in 2002. However, Donahue soon found that such stamps cannot be issued until at least 10 years after an individual’s death.
“That actually worked well for us, because of 2012 being the 100th anniversary of Fenway,” he said.
He also found that a request for a stamp had to have the backing of at least 1,500 signatures.
Maureen Cronin, a member of the BoSox Club’s Board of Directors, got behind the appeal for public support. Her father, the late Joe Cronin, was Ted’s first manager in the big leagues. Cronin managed the Red Sox from 1935 to 1947, then became the team’s general manager. From 1953 to 1973, he served as president of the American League. Cronin was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1959 – seven years before Williams was so honored.
Maureen Cronin’s efforts included getting 20 Hall of Famers to sign petitions backing creation of the stamp in Williams’ honor. Among them were Yogi Berra, Williams teammate Bobby Doerr, Brooks Robinson, Tom Seaver and two who have since died, Bob Feller and Harmon Killebrew.
“Bruce and the BoSox Club kept the Red Sox up to date on their progress (with the stamp), and enlisted our support. We sent notices to our alumni, asking them to petition the Postal Service, and we got a lot of response,” Bresciani said.
“We wound up with several thousand signatures,” Donahue said.
The Postal Service issued its first baseball stamp in 1939 to honor the game’s 100th anniversary. (Baseball is said to have been invented by Gen. Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839, although that contention long has been held in dispute).
Some 40 Hall of Fame players have been honored with stamps. The earliest group consisted of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente. (Fenway Park was featured on a commemorative stamp in a 2001 series that honored American ball parks.)
The most recent set honored Mickey Mantle, Hank Greenberg, Roy Campanella and Mel Ott. Those were 39-cent first-class stamps.
The 2012 set will be “Forever” stamps, meaning that they will be valid no matter when they are used. Such stamps never expire or decline in value. Their value is the first-class mail stamp postage rate for a one-ounce letter at the time of use