International Baseball Postage Stamps

While baseball may be America’s pastime, four countries released postage stamps featuring baseball prior to the United States. The Philippines released the first-ever baseball stamp in 1934 to celebrate their Far Eastern Championship Games. Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama each followed with releases to celebrate other “Games” events. It wasn’t until 1939 that the USA honored the Centennial of Baseball on its first postage stamp.

Beginning in the 1960’s, there was an explosion of baseball appearing on foreign stamps, including more than 7,000 today from 170 countries through 2024. The charts below are from the History of Baseball as Depicted in Postage Stamps, by David Schulz.

Following are the first 29 international postage stamps featuring baseball – all prior to 1960.

1934 Philippine Islands – 10th Far Eastern Championship Games

This is the first postage stamp from anywhere in the world ever to feature baseball, issued on April 14, 1934.

The 1934 Far Eastern Championship Games was the tenth edition of the regional multi-sport event, contested between China, Japan, Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, and was held from May 16-20 in Manila, the Philippines. A total of eight sports were contested during the four-day competition, with baseball, basketball and tennis commemorated on postage stamps. Appropriately, the Philippines won the baseball event at the games, winning Gold over Japan.

There is debate over which country really owns the rights to claiming the first baseball stamp – the Philippines or the United States – because the Philippines were under American rule following the Treaty of Paris in which Spain ceded its colony to the U.S. following the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Philippines were not granted full independence from the U.S. until 1946.

All three stamps in the set were designed by Fernando Amorsolo and printed in sheets of 35 by Philippine Bureau of Printing with 971,414 pieces printed.

A variant of this stamp, not listed in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, often appears in collections and for sale. Known among collectors as the “Malformed T” variety, it features a unique flaw: the letter “T” in “Eastern” has a noticeable circle above its crossbar.

The sheet below contains 35 stamps and is extremely rare. It is essentially the Honus Wagner of baseball stamps, the first ever produced, and a full sheet being nearly impossible to find.

1935 Colombia Olympics

These stamps were printed for the Colombia Olympics in 1935. While other international stamp sets for competitive games included baseball and are relatively inexpensive, this is a rare stamp set, often selling for well over $1,000.

The 16-stamp set features a variety of sports but the biggest one here to most American collectors is the baseball stamp. The baseball stamp features a baserunner reaching for a base with a fielder attempting to tag him. Another is a greeting by an Olympian to the III Olimpiada, showcasing the baseball field in the background. Other sports stamps in the set include discus throwing, soccer, swimming, tennis, and track & field hurdles and running. Several other non-sports stamps are in the set, including an eagle, a seal, scenery, a beach, a bridge, a statue, and a post-office building.

1937 Colombia – Barranquilla Stadium

Issued in April of 1937, this stamp is part of the National Industrial Exposition in Barranquilla – the capital of Colombia’s Atlántico Department. This stamp set features several buildings, including Estadio de Barranquilla.

Romelio Martínez Stadium was conceived in 1932, the year the 2nd Annual National Games of Colombia were played in Barranquilla. The stadium was finished on 1934 as “Estadio Municipal” (Municipal Stadium) with capacity of 10,000 spectators. It had a wooden structure that supported the grandstand deck. The architectural stadium’s style is Art Deco.

1937 Nicaragua – Central American Caribbean Games

Issued in May of 1937, these stamps were printed for the Central American and Caribbean Games held in February of 1938. The set included only one subject, a baseball player. A batter is shown on four different stamps of the same pose, but with four different colors – blue, green, red, and orange.

These 4th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Panama City, Panama, at Estadio Juan Demóstenes Arosemena. These Games were played three years after the last Games to get them back to the year they should have been after a 5-year break. The Games included athletes from ten nations, competing in sixteen different sports. In baseball, Cuba took the Gold medal, defeating Panama. Nicaragua captured the Bronze.

1938 Panama – Central American and Caribbean Games

The fourth Central American and Caribbean Games were held in 1938 and this was a commemorative stamps set showcasing five of the 21 different sports: baseball, basketball, boxing, soccer and swimming.

The stamps are in color but each one includes only a single color of ink with various shades. That doesn’t detract from the high-quality images, however. The five stamps all have different denominations, with baseball valued at 2¢.

1944 Venezuela – Venezuelan Amateur Baseball World Series

These stamps were printed to celebrate the 7th Annual Venezuelan Amateur Baseball World Series, or the “Serie Mundial de Base Ball Amateur” in Spanish. These are sometimes referred to as the Venezuela Baseball Stamps.

Each stamp picture is the same, featuring a batter and a catcher. A total of nine different stamps were printed in an assortment of colors: black, blue, brown, gold/yellow, green (light), green (dark), orange, purple and red – with the denomination being different for each. Only 10,000 sets of these airmail issues were printed.

1948 Japan – 3rd National Athletic Meet Between Yawata & Fukuoka

Issued on October 29, 1948, this Japanese postage stamp series honors the 3rd National Athletic Meet between Yawata and Fukuoka on Kyushu Island in Japan. The four sports stamps featured include baseball, track, high jump and cycling. Each stamp is valued at 5¥ (Japanese yen), and two million of each were printed.

This imitation stamp sheet was produced by Stamp Keizaisha. It showcases printed instead of actual perforations and comes without adhesive backing. Hastily hand-cut, the sheets are irregularly shaped. Despite this, these rare reproductions are eagerly sought by collectors, even though they are not authentic.

The text along the bottom, translating to “Imitation stamp series made by Kyokeisha Stamps,” indicates no intention to deceive. The manufacturer names, Keizaisha and Kyokeisha, are used interchangeably due to Japanese to English translation variations.

1949 Nicaragua – 10th World Series of Amateur Baseball

Issued on July 15, 1949, these stamps honor the 10th World Series of Amateur Baseball, held in Managua, Nicaragua, from November 20 through December 12, 1948. The usually powerful Cubans did not field a squad, as many top Cuban amateurs had been signed by MLB teams that had previously refused to sign darker-skinned athletes.

The Dominican Republic won its only Amateur World Series title, going 8-1. Ramon del Monte went 4-0 with a 0.34 ERA and took home MVP honors. Manuel Caceres tied for the best average (.522) and most hits (12), while B. Arias tied for the most triples (2). Elias Farias led with 9 runs.

Included in the 26-stamp series are 12 sports, including baseball, basketball, boxing, cycling, swimming, football, pole vault, sailing, softball, swimming, table tennis, and tennis. Additionally, scouting was featured, plus two stadiums: Modern National Stadium and the new National Stadium in Managua. An additional 27th sheet was issued, showcasing National Stadium while under construction.

Most sports were issued in multiple denominations, including baseball, which came in 15¢ and 30¢ stamps, and softball, which came in 1¢ and 5 cordobas stamps, with an issuance of 40,000 each. Only 2,500 of each souvenir sheet was issued. See the complete 1949 Nicaragua collection.

All 26 stamps in the edition mention “X Serie De Base-Ball Amateur, 1948,” translated to “Amateur Baseball World Series,” somewhere on the stamp. Thus, even the non-baseball sports are considered baseball stamps. Of the edition, 13 of the values were issued as a rectangle, and 13 were issued in small squares.

1951 Argentina – Pan American Games

Released on February 25, 1951, this stamp commemorates the First Pan American Games held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This unadopted essay stamp was a preliminary design that was not officially issued. Printed by Casa de Moneda de la Nación (the National Mint of Argentina) and designed by Amadeo Dell’Acqua, the stamp features a baseball player and has a denomination of 70 centavos (70c). Printed on opaque paper, this proof is extremely rarity.

The sports depicted on the remaining stamps in the series are Wrestling (40 Centavos Aéreo), Boxing (80 Centavos), Shooting (6 Pesos Aéreo), and Gymnastics (10 Pesos).

1955 Liberia – Sports

Issued on January 26, 1955, the “Sports” issue from Liberia included six different stamps. Tennis, soccer and boxing were all regular postage stamps, while baseball, swimming and track were all designated for airmail.

1956 Taiwan – Year of the Child

Issued on April 4, 1956, the Year of the Child (also translated as “Day of Children”) was issued in China in green, blue and red. Each stamp features four young children playing, one in each corner: a ballerina (top-left), soccer player (top-right), baseball fielder (bottom-left) and jump roper (bottom-right).

1957 Cuba – Youth Recreation

Issued on May 17, 1957, the Youth Recreation series, also referred to as “Young Athletes,” include four stamps in the series: baseball, ballerina, diving and boxing. Each is a different color, and issued from 8¢ to 30¢.

1959 Dominican Republic – 3rd Pan American Games

Issued on August 27, 1959, this stamp memorializes Trujillo Stadium which was built in 1955 during the Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina dictatorship. While the stamp honors the Pan Am Games of 1959, all baseball contests were held in the United States at Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field in Chicago from August 27 through September 7. Venezuela won the baseball tourney, while the Dominican Republic finished in 8th place.

1959 Panama – 3rd Pan American Games

Issued on October 26, 1959, this Panamanian stamp honors the Pan American Games held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., featuring athletes from across the Americas and the Caribbean. It acknowledges the inclusion of baseball in the Games, despite Panama not competing in the baseball tournament. Venezuela went 6–1 to claim the title.

International Baseball Postage Stamps