Z4105

Baseball Sluggers

Roy Campanella

Subscriber Only Edition

Collins Cover Announcement 

Baseball Sluggers

This group of three covers continues the Baseball Sluggers issue. Included in this group is the Mel Ott which completes the set of four as per the last write-up.

Also included in this invoice are the two "subscriber only" limited editions that I did just for subscribers. These very special Collins First Day Covers are not offered to anyone else, and subscribers cannot order extras. As a result, my sub-only First Day Covers always become very hard to find and desirable items within the hobby. These two will even be a notch above usual because baseball collectibles attract a lot of attention.

On these two covers, I put the stamps in the upper left corners, and then they were tied to the envelope with a great First Day of Issue pictorial postmark. Mantle was one of the game's all-time great superstars, and Campanella was the first black catcher in the Majors and a star slugger for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mick and Campy. The Yanks and the "Bums." The Boys with the Pinstripes and the Boys of Summer. Two super FDCs for your Collins collection.

Since the subscriber-only covers cannot be ordered as "extras" and since the Mel Ott can only be acquired as an extra in a set of four with the three previously announced, I am not including a blue sheet with this invoice. Mel Ott (Z41 03); Roy Campanella subscriber-only limited edition (Z4105); and Mickey Mantle subscriber-only limited edition (Z4106).

Summer 2025 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 32 Z4105 — Roy Campanella/Baseball Sluggers Mini-set Subscriber-only cover — 7/15/06

Roy Campanella was a professional baseball player. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor leagues in 1946. He made his Major League Baseball debut in 1948 for the Brooklyn Dodgers for whom he played until 1957. His playing career ended when he was paralyzed in an automobile crash in 1958. He is considered one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game. He won the Most Valuable Player award in 1953 when he hit 41 home runs, had 142 runs batted in, scored 103 runs and hit .312. It is considered one of the best seasons ever for a catcher.

After he retired as a player as a result of the accident, Campanella held positions in scouting and community relations with the Dodgers. He died of heart failure at age 71.

Subsequently, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, the second player of black heritage so honored after Jackie Robison. The same year he received the Bronze Medallion from the City of New York.

The individually hand painted cachets are very eye-catching because Roy appears on the right side of the envelope rather than the traditional left side. The stamp is on the upper left-hand corner and is tied to the envelope by a large pictorial cancel. The stamp shows "Campy" batting, and the bat in the pictorial postmark is what hits the stamp. The overall appearance of this cover is a "Home Run!" This is the first time this cover has been offered in one of my mail sales.