A1602s

American Sports

Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig - Baseball

Collins Cover Announcement 

BASEBALL

Lou Gehrig

Many collectors have been waiting for these COLLINS Baseball FDCs. They have become a favorite and certainly should be included in your holdings. History has shown that my Baseball covers have "sold out" fairly rapidly (Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Roberto Clemente), and it is fair to assume that the Lou Gehrig FDCs will follow suit sooner than later. So a word to the wise is sufficient.

I decided to do three for this issue to take advantage of the excellent unofficial cancels available and also because I know that COLLINS Baseball FDCs afford my collectors the opportunity to add solid collectibles to their collections. In the months and years ahead, there is no doubt that the COLLINS Gehrigs will join my Robinsons, Ruths, and Clementes and become among the most sought after Baseball FDCs of the many produced by various cachetmakers. The unofficial postmarks I used are: the familiar but classic large Cooperstown bullseye; the Homer (of which Lou hit many -- 494), N.Y. hand cancel; and, a stunning 50th Hall of Fame Anniversary pictorial postmark which is really a classic for this Day of Issue.

The first cover shows a bat leaning against a batting cage along with a period mitt, baseball, and pair of spikes. Hand painting is crisp and it pertray th basic6 or the game tnat has evolved to our "National Pasttime". It has the fine Homer unofficial cancel. The second cover of the trio follows the same theme and brings continuity to my Lou Gehrig offering. He was known as "The Iron Horse" which referred to his durability and the record number of continuous games in which he played without missing any. On this card the "Adirondack" bat is laying on the ground as a backdrop with a Yankee cap, a baseball card, and a glove with ball in the foreground. This hand-painted cover features painted lettering of Lou's name plus a notation of his famous and fitting nickname "The Iron Horse". It has the fine large Cooperstown bullseye unofficial First Day cancel. The third and final cover is one I'm proud to offer. Back in 1982 Frank Pennington, did my Jackie Robinson cachet. Frank is a pioneer cachetmaker who did his first cachet in 1939 for the Golden Gate issue. For only the second time Frank has again taken his pen in hand and

produced another Baseball cachet for COLLINS. It is done in the same format as the Robinson to lend itself to the "belonging" concept which I think means a lot. In other words, if you place the Robinson and Gehrig COLLINS/Penningtons side by side, you can immediately see that they are of the same origin. This one shows Gehrig, in his Yankee pinstripes, taking a mighty swing. As a backdrop, Frank has again used an enlarged baseball. Below, is the familiar green banner proclaiming "Lou Gehrig". Frank's name is on each hand-painted cachet along with the usual COLLINS logo. To compliment this historic cover which spans FIFTY YEARS of cachetmaking (1939-1989), I've obtained a magnificent baseball pictorial unofficial First Day cancel which is an awesome 3-1/2 inches plus long and 1-1/2 inches plus high. It commemorates the 50th Anniersary of the Baseball Hall of Fame from 1939 to 1989. It is super. An interesting side note on this COLLINS is that Frank's first cachet was in 1939, the same year that the Hall of Fame opened. 1989 is the Golden Anniversary for both. Easy to appreciate the significance of this COLLINS Baseball gem.

Thanks, Frank, for this contribution to our wonderful hobby.

Item numbers A1601 (Homer) $7.50; A1602 (Iron Horse) $7.50; and A1603 (Pennington) $8.50. See note on order form pertaining to COLLINS numbers.