Professional Baseball

This stamp was issued on September 24, 1969 in Cincinatti, Ohio to honor the 100th anniversary of professional baseball. Although the game of baseball started being played in the early 1800's, the first salaried team was the Cincinatti Red Stockings formed in 1869. In 1871, the team folded and some team members moved to Boston where the new team became the Boston Red Stockings. Later the name was changed to the Boston Braves and the team eventually moved first to Milwaukee and then to Atlanta. In 1901 a new American League team became the Boston Red Sox choosing it's name based on the traditional color of the stockings first worn in 1869.