Postal Service to Issue Stamps Honoring Mays and Summitt
The 2027 release marks the 50th entry in the Black Heritage series and celebrates the legacies of two sports icons.
By Carolina Wood ·
The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it will release stamps honoring Willie Mays and Pat Summitt in 2027. The dual issue recognizes the baseball Hall of Famer and the Tennessee women's basketball coach, both of whom have passed away.
The Mays stamp is designed to resemble a vintage baseball card. It features a portrait of the player in his New York Giants uniform. An inset image captures his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz during the 1954 World Series opener. Mays died in 2024 at age 93. During his career from 1951 to 1973, he batted .301 with 660 home runs and 1,909 runs batted in.
The stamp's orange background references the colors of the New York Giants, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets. Antonio Alcalá, a USPS art director, created the design. This issue is the 50th stamp in the Postal Service's Black Heritage series.
The Pat Summitt stamp features an oil-on-primed-linen portrait by Roberto Parada. Ethel Kessler, another USPS art director, designed the stamp. Summitt died in 2016 at age 64. She coached Tennessee from 1974 to 2012, leading the team to eight NCAA championships. Her career record stands at 1,098 wins and 208 losses.
Summitt is inducted into both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. The Postal Service confirmed the release date for both stamps during its Monday announcement in Washington.
