About This Stamp
The Postal Service issued a Lou Gehrig commemorative stamp on June 10, 1989, in Cooperstown, New York. Gehrig was known as the "Iron Horse" and played an incredible 2,130 consecutive games.
As cleanup hitter behind Babe Ruth, Gehrig was the right hook in the most devastating one-two punch the game has known. In 13 consecutive seasons, Gehrig drove in 100 or more runs and bettered 150 RBIs on seven occasions, setting an American League record with 184 in 1931. He later became the first 20th-century player to hit four consecutive home runs in one game.
The stamp, issued in panes of 50, was printed by the American Bank Note Company using the photogravure process.
Stamp Artist
Bart Forbes
Born in Oklahoma, Bart Forbes earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Carolina and continued his studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
In more than four decades as one of America's most successful illustrators, Forbes has created artwork for major sporting events including the Kentucky Derby, America's Cup, the Indianapolis 500, the Boston Marathon, the Olympic Games, the Westminster Dog Show, and numerous PGA tournaments. He has also created art for many of America's top magazines including TIME and Sports Illustrated. Among his many corporate clients are NBC, Exxon, Pepsi-Cola, Eastman Kodak, Lockheed, ABC, ESPN, and the National Football League. The Sports Art of Bart Forbes, a collection of many of his famous sports paintings, was published in 1998. His paintings can be found in the private collections of former President George H.W. Bush, Arnold Palmer, Pat Summerall, Tiger Woods, and Jerry Jones.
Forbes, who works from his studio near Dallas, Texas, has recently become interested in a new genre of oil painting embodying primarily landscape and still-life themes painted over richly-textured surfaces.
Forbes has designed 22 postage stamps for the United States Postal Service®, including the 1985 Abigail Adams and 1989 Lou Gehrig commemoratives, five Olympians stamps in 1990, the 1989 America the Beautiful postal cards, the 2011 Ronald Reagan stamp, and the 2016 Sarah Vaughan stamp.