2017 Have a Ball: Baseball

On June 14, 2017, the U.S. Postal Service issued the Have a Ball! Forever stamps in Hartford, Wisconsin. Priced at 49 cents each when issued, the eight round designs celebrated America’s passion for athletics through illustrations of familiar sports balls.

The baseball stamp features a white ball with curved red stitching. A special coating applied during printing gives the stitching a raised feel, adding a tactile dimension to the illustration. The other designs recreate a golf ball’s dimples, a tennis ball’s seams, the textured panels of soccer balls and volleyballs, and the different raised patterns of footballs, basketballs, and kickballs.

The first-day ceremony took place at the 117th U.S. Open golf championship as part of the U.S. Golf Association’s Flag Day celebration honoring military service members and veterans.

Daniel Nyari created the illustrations, Mike Ryan designed the stamps, and Greg Breeding served as art director. Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd. printed them using offset and flexographic processes. Each self-adhesive pane contained sixteen stamps, with two of each design.

A total of 80,000,000 stamps were produced across the eight designs, including 10,000,000 baseball stamps. At the original issue price of 49 cents each, the baseball stamps represented a total face value of $4,900,000. The baseball design is cataloged as Scott 5207.