Legend of Baseball : Eddie Collins

Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player. Born in Millerton, New York, at age 19, he joined the Philadelphia Athletics as a second baseman in 1906. From 1910 to 1914, with the A's he won four of five AL pennants and three World Titles, After the 1914 season, he was sold to the Chicago White Sox where he played for the next twelve seasons including the 1919 Word Series Black Sox Scandal. In 1924, he was named player manager of the Sox and guided them to winning records. He was released by Chicago following the 1926 season and rejoined on the A's as a coach and player, mostly as a pinch-hitter. He ended his career with a .333 batting average, 3315 hits, 47 homeruns, 1300 runs batted in and holds the American League record for service, at 25 seasons. In 1939, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. He died in Boston, Massachusetts.
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive. He played from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
At the end of his career, he ranked second in major league history in career games (2,826), walks (1,499) and stolen bases (744), third in runs scored (1,821), fourth in hits (3,315) and at bats (9,949), sixth in on base percentage (.424), and eighth in total bases (4,268); he was also fourth in AL history in triples (187). He still holds the major league record of 512 career sacrifice hits, over 100 more than any other player. He was the first major leaguer in modern history to steal 80 bases in a season, and still shares the major league record of six steals in a game, which he accomplished twice in September 1912. He regularly batted over .320, retiring with a career average of .333. He also holds major league records for career games (2,650), assists (7,630) and total chances (14,591) at second base, and ranks second in putouts (6,526). Under the win shares statistical rating system created by baseball historian and analyst Bill James, Collins was the greatest second baseman of all time.

A native of Millerton, New York, Collins was a graduate of Columbia University (where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity), at a time when few Major League players had attended college.
As a player, Collins was renowned for his solid batting skills and speed on the basepaths.
He broke into the majors in 1906 with the Philadelphia Athletics and by 1909 was a full-time player. That season, he registered a .347 batting average and 67 steals. The following year, Collins stole a career-high 81 bases and played on the first of his four World Series championship teams.

Legend of Baseball : George Sisler

George Harold Sisler (March 24, 1893 - March 26, 1973), nicknamed "Gentleman George" and "Gorgeous George," was an American professional baseball player for 15 seasons, primarily as first baseman with the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles). From 1920 until 2004, Sisler held the Major League Baseball (MLB) record for most hits in a single season, a mark which stills stands for the 154-game season in which he played.
His 1922 season — during which he batted .420, hit safely in a then-record 41 consecutive games, led the American League in hits (246), stolen bases (51), and triples (18), and was, by general consensus, the best fielding first baseman in the game — is considered by many historians to be among the best individual all-around single-season performances in baseball history.[1]
Sisler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.[2] In 1999, he received the eighth-largest number of first base-category votes in fan balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and editors at The Sporting News named him 33rd on their list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."



Born in the unincorporated hamlet of Manchester (now part of the city of New Franklin, a suburb of Akron, Ohio[3]) and having played college ball for coach Branch Rickey at the University of Michigan, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering, Sisler entered the major leagues as a pitcher for the Browns in 1915. He signed as a free agent after the minor league contract he had signed as a minor four years earlier, and which the Pittsburgh Pirates had purchased, was declared void. The following year he switched to first base, to fully utilise his hitting skills. He posted a record of 5-6 with a 2.35 earned run average in 24 career mound appearances, twice defeating Walter Johnson in complete games victories.

Legend of Baseball : Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was the first black Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s, he was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades.The example of his character and unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation, which then marked many other aspects of American life, and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement.



In addition to his cultural impact, Robinson had an exceptional baseball career. Over ten seasons, he played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Championship. He was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games from 1949 to 1954,was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 – the first black player so honored. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams.
Robinson was also known for his pursuits outside the baseball diamond. He was the first black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first black vice-president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem, New York. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Robinson in uniform for the Kansas City Monarchs
In early 1945, while Robinson was at Sam Huston College, the Kansas City Monarchs sent him a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues. Robinson accepted a contract for $400 ($4,882 in 2011 dollars per month, a boon for him at the time. Although he played well for the Monarchs, Robinson was frustrated with the experience. He had grown used to a structured playing environment in college, and the Negro leagues' disorganization and embrace of gambling interests appalled him. The hectic travel schedule also placed a burden on his relationship with Isum, with whom he could now only communicate by letter. In all, Robinson played 47 games at shortstop for the Monarchs, hitting .387 with five home runs, and registering 13 stolen bases.He also appeared in the 1945 Negro League All-Star Game, going hitless in five at-bats.
During the season, Robinson pursued potential major league interest. The Boston Red Sox held a tryout at Fenway Park for Robinson and other black players on April 16. The tryout, however, was a farce chiefly designed to assuage the desegregationist sensibilities of powerful Boston City Councilman Isadore Muchnick. Even with the stands limited to management, Robinson was subjected to racial epithets. Robinson left the tryout humiliated, and more than fourteen years later, in July 1959, the Red Sox became the last major league team to integrate its roster.

Legends of Baseball

Hello..........
I have posted some stamps of this series earlier, From today I will continue to publish rest of stamps with brief history of the each player.....

1st South Pacific Games

Hello Friends
After gap of almost one and half year I am back to action now. Today I am posting this First Day Cover for First South Pacific Games held in Fiji. This used cover was send by Dr. Koos from South Africa. I hope you will like this post.
Greetings………….

The Pacific Games (formerly known as the South Pacific Games) is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively from countries around the South Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963, hosted by Suva, Fiji.
The idea of holding the South Pacific Games originated with Dr A.H. Sahu Khan who was one of Fiji's representatives at a meeting of the South Pacific Commission held at Rabaul during 1959. The idea was adopted and led to a meeting of nine Territories, held in Nouméa during March 1961, which awarded Fiji the honour of hosting the very first Games

Pacific Games Council
The games governing body is the Pacific Games Council. The Games council flag is presented to the host nation of the next games at the end of every games. With expansion and economic growth in the Pacific and Oceania countries of the Pacific Islands it was now appropriate for the South Pacific Games Council to modernise and revise its charter in light of these changes in the region and the changing place of Sport in our society, thus the council adapted a new charter in 2007.
The current President of the Council is Vidya Larkhan from Fiji.

South Pacific Games Locations
• 1963 - Suva, Fiji
• 1966 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 1969 - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
• 1971 - Papeete, Tahiti
• 1975 - Guam
• 1979 - Suva, Fiji
• 1983 - Apia, Western Samoa
• 1987 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 1991 - Port Moresby/Lae, Papua New Guinea
• 1995 - Papeete, Tahiti
• 1999 - Guam
• 2003 - Suva, Fiji
• 2007 - Apia, Samoa
• 2011 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 2015 - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea