USPS Ted Williams

USPS issued on 21 July  2012 a First Day Cover (FDC) stamp commemorating baseball legend Ted Williams. FDC postmark cancellation originated from in Boston, Massachusetts. It featured Ted Williams with a special pictorial postmark. 

The card cachet includes a black and white portrait photo of a young Ted Williams in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

Ted Williams (1918-2002) was born in San Diego, California. He began playing professionally in 1936 with the San Diego Padres, then a minor-league team, and broke into the major leagues as an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox in 1939. In 1941, he hit for a .406 average. After 75 years, no other major leaguer has ever hit .400 or more over the course of a season.

He  ranks among the all-time great hitters – 521 home runs, 2,654 hits, a .344 batting average, 2,021 walks, and 1,839 runs batted in. The legendary numbers were all the more remarkable for the five seasons lost to military service in World War II and the Korean War. Even his wartime duty was the stuff of legends – as a fighter pilot, he was wingman for future astronaut John Glenn.

His uniform number 9 was retired by the Red Sox in 1964, and he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Ted Williams died 5 July 2002.