First Day Cover

Pete Rose & Bart Giamatti Signed 1983 All-Star Game First Day Cover

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How’s this for rare and historically significant: a Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti signed 1983 All-Star Game First-Day Cover?!

If you weren’t aware:

Giamatti served as Commissioner for only five months before dying suddenly of a heart attack. He is the shortest-tenured baseball commissioner in the sport’s history and the only holder of the office not to preside over a full Major League Baseball season. Giamatti’s most notable act as Commissioner was to negotiate the agreement resolving the Pete Rose betting scandal in which Rose was permitted to voluntarily withdraw from the sport to avoid further punishment.

Wikipedia

This first-day cover was a part of Mastro’s March 2006 Classic Collector Auction.

Babe Ruth Signed 1939 Baseball Centennial First Day Cover

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Mastro offered this Babe Ruth signed 1939 Baseball Centennial First Day Cover one in their December 2004 catalog, noting the smudging on the “ruth” part of the signature. The auto had an LOA from James Spence & Steve Grad.

The first-day cover is stamped from Cooperstown on June 12, 1939, bearing a 3-cent “Centennial of Baseball” stamp in the upper right corner. The Ex/Mt cover is addressed to a resident of Chicago.

Heritage sold this signed version for $16,800 in October 2018.

REA sold this signed example for $8,700 in their Summer 2023 auction.

1982 Jackie Robinson First Day Cover

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The USPS initiated a Black Heritage Stamp Series in 1978. On August 2, 1982, they issued one for Jackie Robinson. This advertisement, from the October 1982 Trader Speaks, is for a pair of 1st Day Covers with a B. Scott Forst stadium exclusive drawing on the left side.

There seem to be a few different 1st Day Covers for the stamp; the one advertised in Trader Speaks appears to be a little more challenging to track down but not any more expensive than the others.

Now, for the stamp specifically, it was painted by Howard Koslow, and 164,235,000 stamps were issued at a postage value of 20¢ each.