K3410

Legendary Playing Fields

Wrigley Field, Chicago

Cover Announcement 

The hand painted cachets for this set will be fantastic. In an effort to create an up-close and personal appeal for each cover, I will concentrate on taking a section of each stadium and present it in traditional watercoloring style. Exciting players and steadfast umpires. Famous infields and familiar outfields. Distinctive walls and fences over which notable home runs have been hit. Loyal, cheering fans from America's great cities. All to be blended with brush and paint that will certainly make this the finest set of First Day Covers produced for this wonderful issue of ten new baseball stamps.

A very brief glimpse will give you an idea as to the significance of this set of First Day Covers to collectors of Collins cachets as well as sports and baseball topicalists.

Yankee Stadium - New York City

Has hosted more World Series games than any other stadium.

Comiskey Park - Chicago

In 1933 it hosted the first all-star game.

Fenway Park - Boston

Home of the "Green Monstef'--. a 37-foot high left field wall

Ebbets Field - Brooklyn

Home of the'Brooklyn Bums" - Dodger fans here were among the game's most loyal and colorful.

Wrigley Field - Chicago

Famous for its ivy-covered outfield walls and love of day games.

Crosley Fietd - Cincinnati

Night games started here in 1935 with President Roosevelt switching on the lights from the White House.

Shibe Park - Philadelphia

Major League baseball's first concrete and steel stadium

Forbes Field - Pittsburgh

In sixty-one years as home of the Pirates, no one ever pitched a "no hitter'' here.

Tiger Stadium - Detroit

Home of the Tigers for almost a full century.

Polo Grounds - New York

Home of my boyhood idols the Giants and site of 1951 home run called "shot heard 'round the world."

This set is going to be a great one to have in your Collins collection. Even if you are not a baseball enthusiast, the Americana and historic aspects, as well as the beauty of the cachets, make this offering one you will not want to pass up. And for casual or serious basebaii fans, this is definitely the one you've been waiting for.

This is an extraordinary set that you will not want to miss - and that's a promise. Cachet art in the form of a traditional

watercolor style combines with our national pastime of baseball to make these ten First Day Covers an example of Americana at its finest. I'm pleased to offer the Legendary Playing Fields set of ten.

Autumn 2022 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 26 K3401 to K3410 — Legendary Baseball Ball Parks (6-27-2001)

When given this opportunity to do cachet portrayals of historic and legendary ball parks, I thought long and hard about how to do so. I felt it was an important responsibility to get it right. The stamps show either the outside of the stadiums or the playing fields themselves. I chose to go for the vintage character and literally "signs of the times" — opting for the outfield fence advertising and the large scoreboards unique to each park.

The right field at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn has ads for Glem Razor Blades, Esquire Boot Polish, and Old Gold Cigarettes. A Schafer Beer sign topped the score board for the Detroit Tigers Stadium. It was a change of pace depicting Denny McLain on the mound. From Crosley Field in Cincinnati, it was a look down the line at left field. Yankee Stadium in the Bronx has the famed upper decks in the "House that Ruth Built." In New York City's Polo Grounds, it's a view from home plate behind the umpire to the center field scoreboard. A Chesterfield Cigarette promotion dominates. At Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, a distinctive red roof is prominent. The left field scoreboard features a large Longines Clock advertising a leading watch maker of the day. Ted Williams waits on deck at Fenway Park in Boston. Gem Razor Blades and Old Chew Tobacco send their sales messages from the outfield. Coca Cola and Hygrades Ball Park Franks proclaim their consumer favorites above the center field scoreboard. Shibe Park in Philadelphia headlines Ballantine Beer while more modest but colorful signs ring the outfield. Finally, the famous growing ivy makes an appearance on the outfield fence of Wrigley Field, Chicago. Home of the Cubs. Note the storied brickwork behind home plate.

Three of the historic Ball Parks in this set were located in New York City, and that is where the ten covers received the first day of issue bullseye postmark. Looking at this set now decades after the stamps were issued, I am gratified that they achieved "the look" I wanted. This set just does not become available often. The Collins set of ten — Baseball's Legendary Playing Fields.