Wilt The Stilt - Too Big For Just One Stamp?

Two new stamps featuring Wilt Chamberlain - the first NBA player to be depicted on a U.S. stamp - are being released this week.

I am a sports nut and have no problem with the stamp - but why two when one would do????

Any thoughts?

NY Times story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/s...rs.html?_r=0

Looks like he is wearing two different team jerseys. Could be that he played for two different teams in his career?

Well, your subject line made me think of this....

He did play for five different teams (including the Harlem Globtrotters) ... The ones shown are the Philadelphia Warriors and LA Lakers (in between he was with the SF Warriors and Philly 76ers) .. but many athletes play for several teams (Babe Ruth was on at least 3 ...) They could have done one stamp and showed a little inset of him with the second team, etc. ...

I picked up my Wilt Chamberlain stamps this morning.

My postal clerk commented that he hates these stamp issues that have an odd number of stamps per pane (18 in this case) but noted at least in this case he's allowed to sell the stamps individually, unlike the Music Icons stamps that have to be purchased as a full pane only.

One thing not pictured on the promotional images of the stamps is the location of the "USPS" microprinting located on each basketball:



For anyone who hasn't picked up the stamps yet, here's the biographical information contained on the reverse side of the pane:

Maybe I will get some of these in the mail soon. Fingers crossed.

A photo from the 12/05/2014 FDOI ceremony for the Wilt Chamberlain Stamp at halftime at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia:



More photos of the event -- and even a video -- can be viewed at this link:

http://uspsvideo.com/product/wilt-c...p-unveiling/

My "unofficial" first day postmarks of the Wilt Chamberlain stamps ... which actually went through the US Mail and were cancelled by none other than Rudolph!

I remember when he scored 100 points one night in 1962 against the Cincinnati (nee Rochester) Royals. The game was played across the Ohio river in Covington, KY. Triple overtime, I believe.

The Bill Russell match ups were fierce, and the Stilt AWAYS came up second. So where's the Bill Russell stamp?

PS: I also remember Wilt was given a record $100K contract one year. When Red Auerbach found out (the next day), he tore up Russell's contract on the spot and then gave him a $100,001- contract!

Jack Kelley

It's annoying that this stamp is taller than a usual US Stamp. I understand he was a tall man, but, unless it's the same height. The 52.5 mm height probably means I need to buy a pack of stamp mounts that I don't currently have, and probably won't need for any other stamp. Couldn't they have stretched one image across two stamps and just make a really tall se-tenant using 2 40x25 commemorative stamps?

I actually find no problem with mounting these stamps using "standard" mounts. I broke up a pane of the stamps for use as postage and show two arrangements, one se-tenant (using a standard mount designed for a block or plate block) and one single (using a standard commemorative strip mount. Obviously both need to be cut to size before mounting in an album, but at least I can get by with not having to puchase special mounts for the purpose:

Ah. I hadn't thought of mounting the stamp in the mount sideways! That solves that problem.

Jack Kelly: It was against the Knicks that Wilt scored the 100:

Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association (NBA) by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169–147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, at Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

ALSO - no stamp for Russell (yet) because he is still alive.

Technically, that shouldn't make any difference, as new CSAC rules allow for living people to be on US postage stamps. Granted, it hasn't happened yet (at least not intentionally). Sure, some will claim the Harry Potter stamps already did (depict living people) but the USPS claims the depiction were characters from the fictional story and did not commemorate the actors/actresses playing the roles.

I suppose the USPS still has to be careful of exactly who they may choose among the living to be featured on a stamp in their own right ... and there will always be supporters and critics of whomever they choose ... since they won't please everyone no matter if the person is a respected entertainer, politician, scientist, writer or in any other occupation, so I don't see it happening right away, yet the door is open (via CSAC rules) to allow it if and when the USPS may decide to do so.

The baskets at Hershey were only 9' instead of 10', which helped him some. The thing that people forget is that he twice scored over 70 in the week leading up to that game. He set the all time season record by averaging 50.4 per game that season. He also grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game that year. People who go on and on about Jordan should contemplate Wilt's stats for a while. He earned a couple of big stamps.