Two USPS stamps will be featured as clues on tonight’s episode of Jeopardy!
The first stamp will feature a colorful way of looking at things. The second represents a cultural holiday.
Know the answers? Tune in to see if you’re right. Check local listings for the local time and station of the show.
In 2006, USPS issued the four Baseball Sluggers stamps, honoring Mickey Mantle, Hank Greenberg, Mel Ott, and Roy Campanella. Between them, the four players hit more than 1,600(!) home runs.
Our question for you is: How much do you know about home runs?
If can answer all five of the following five questions correctly, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win one copy of Play Ball! A Celebration of Baseball’s Greatest Moments. This wonderful 8½” x 11”, 40-page softbound book features the vivid paintings of artist Graig Kreindler, as well as 16 collectible stamps: the 2001 Legendary Playing Fields (10), the , and the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Stars (4) stamps.
Let’s start the home run quiz now!
1. Mickey Mantle is widely considered the greatest switch-hitter of all time. In his career, he amassed 536 home runs. Did he hit more homers while batting right-handed or left-handed?
2. On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Who was the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher off whom Aaron hit the homer?
3. How many home runs did Roy Campanella hit in his career?
4. How many seasons did Mel Ott lead the National League in home runs?
5. In 1938, Hank Greenberg hit a whopping 58 home runs. He also set what was then a Major League Baseball record for multi-homer games. How many times that season did he hit more than one homer in a game?
To enter, send your answers, along with your name and address, to: USPS Stamps, 1300 Mercantile Ln, Ste 139C, Largo, MD 20774.
Of those who answer correctly, two people will be randomly chosen to receive a copy of Play Ball! If you don’t know all the answers this time around, don’t worry. You’ll have a couple more chances to win this baseball season. Entries must be postmarked by Saturday, August 10. Good luck!
On this day in 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, agreed:
That a Postmaster General be appointed for the United Colonies … [and] that a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the Postmaster General, from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall think fit.
This simple statement signaled the birth of the Post Office Department, the predecessor of the U.S. Postal Service.
Benjamin Franklin was vital to the organization of the American postal system, serving as postmaster of Philadelphia and a deputy postmaster for the American colonies before being appointed postmaster general by the Continental Congress in 1775. He marked postage-free letters with his unique personal signature: “B. Free Franklin.”
As the first American communications network, the postal system not only facilitated commerce and strengthened the bonds of family and friendship—it united a nation.
Many things have changed since 1775. In scale, the postal system has grown from 75 Post Offices scattered along the East Coast to more than 30,000 locations tucked into every corner of the nation.
Now, 238 years after its birth, the Postal Service is still delivering for America, moving faster as technology develops and making sending and receiving mail more convenient than ever.
During the late 1860s, one of the most famous women in America was not a singer or actress or writer—she was a lighthouse keeper.
A must for every collector and every lighthouse enthusiast, this commemorative panel features all five of the New England Coastal Lighthouses (Forever®) stamps. Click the image for details.
Idawalley Zorada Lewis, born in 1842, lived with her family on Lime Rock Light in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. Her father was the official keeper, but due to his ill health, his duties many times fell to his teenage daughter. She was one of thousands of women—wives or daughters of keepers or keepers in their own right—who lived and worked on the lonely and isolated light stations along the coasts. But what made Ida a national celebrity was her indomitable courage in saving the lives of people who had been swept into the sea.
The rescue that brought Ida to national attention happened in March 1869. Sick with a severe cold, Ida raced into freezing waters to help passengers whose boat had capsized. Battling the towering waves, she guided her lifeboat to the struggling soldiers and pulled them aboard. The story of her dramatic and selfless action, along with her portrait, appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country, prompting an outpouring of attention in the form of visits from the rich and famous—everyone from the Astors and Vanderbilts to President Ulysses S. Grant and General William Tecumseh Sherman—and marriage proposals from men all over the country.
Ida Lewis is credited with saving at least 25 lives in the course of her work at Lime Rock. In 1879 she was appointed the light’s official keeper. She joined the ranks of the women—more than 120 strong—known to have been official lighthouse keepers between 1828 and 1905. When Ida passed away, after 50 years of service at the lighthouse, the name of the island that housed Lime Rock Light was changed to Ida Lewis Rock.
The were released earlier this month. You can find them online, by calling (), and at Post Offices around the country. Have a story about another amazing lighthouse keeper? We’d love to hear it!
Roar down memory lane with this 13 x 14-inch, ready-to-hang artwork that displays a sheet of 2013 limited-edition Muscle Cars (Forever®) stamps. Click the image for details.
Jay Leno is the owner of an extensive car collection. Car buffs can browse photographs and watch videos featuring the late-night host’s impressive array of vehicles on Leno’s website, Jay Leno’s Garage.
Recently Post Master General Patrick R. Donahoe appeared on a Jay Leno’s Garage video segment. Over the years, the U.S. Postal Service has released many automotive-themed stamps. Some feature vehicles that are similar to the ones in Leno’s impressive collection. Here are a few examples:
The 2013 Muscle Cars Forever® stamps have been so popular that USPS has ordered a second printing. Wow! Add some to your collection today before they speed away . . . forever.