Baseball Centennial

A 3-cent violet stamp issued on June 12, 1939, commemorates the centennial of the game of baseball. Abner Doubleday, career Army officer, has long been credited with "inventing" the game — or at least of formalizing its rules — in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. At that time, Doubleday was a cadet at West Point. Evidence of his baseball prowess is spotty at best, but his legacy persists. In any event, variations of the game were played several decades earlier.

The stamp has an appealing design showing a group of young boys playing baseball, a small town panorama in the background. The vignette features a batter, who has taken his stance, and the pitcher poised to deliver the ball.