Postal Service Goes to Bat for Children in Need

WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As organized youth baseball and
softball wind down for the summer, the Postal Service is suggesting that
parents and youngsters who play ball not retire their used gear but ship it
instead to "Pitch In For Baseball (R)" a non-profit organization that collects
"gently used" equipment and distributes it to children in need.

"Yesterday, we celebrated the 100(th) anniversary of baseball's unofficial
anthem by issuing the 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' stamp," said Postmaster
General John Potter. "Today, we're helping Pitch In For Baseball deliver their
message, 'let your equipment play extra innings,' and are encouraging
Americans to donate bats, balls, gloves and other equipment so that more
children can enjoy the sport."

"The communities Pitch In For Baseball serves often are struggling for basic
needs," said Pitch In For Baseball Executive Director David Rhode. "Pitch In
For Baseball wants to make sure kids in those communities aren't overlooked.
Baseball gives them the structure and freedom to be kids while making good
decisions for their future. Kids not only have fun, but also learn important
lessons for their future like teamwork, sportsmanship and dealing with
adversity."

Pitch In For Baseball accepts new or gently used youth gloves, cleats,
aluminum bats, catcher's gear, instructional books, videos and aids such as
batting tees. Rhode describes "gently used" as gear one would feel comfortable
giving to a friend or family member. If in doubt, Rhode said to go ahead and
mail items to:

Pitch In For Baseball
1901 Pennsylvania Avenue
Fort Washington, PA 19034

Customers visiting Post Offices through the end of August will see additional
information on the program, or they can visit www.usps.com/baseball. Examples
of Postal Service mailing options include guaranteed overnight Express Mail
Service or Flat Rate Priority Mail service at just $12.95 that can be
delivered in just two to three days.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The stamp image is based is a circa-1880 "trade card" from the personal
collection of art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ. The original card
shows a baseball scene and contains words promoting a product made by a
Michigan company. The stamp art shows the same scene but replaces the
product-related words with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the stamp
denomination, notes from the music, and the words "United States of America."

For decades the song's catchy chorus has been part of the musical tradition at
ballparks around the nation, especially during the seventh-inning stretch. The
song was born on a New York City train in the summer of 1908, when passenger
Jack Norworth (1879-1959) -- an actor, singer and songwriter who had never
attended a major-league ball game -- saw a sign about an upcoming game at the
Polo Grounds. Suddenly inspired, he took out a piece of paper and began
dashing off lines about a fictional fan he called Katie Casey (Nelly Kelly in
a 1927 version of the song). Katie "was baseball mad," he wrote, and when
asked by her beau to a show, this was her reply: "Take me out to the ball game
/ Take me out with the crowd."

Norworth took his lyrics to composer Albert Von Tilzer (1878-1956), who had
also never been to a major-league game. Von Tilzer set the words to music (a
waltz tempo), and the York Music Company published the song the same year.
Among the earliest recordings were renditions by the Haydn Quartet and singer
Edward Meeker, both in 1908.

The original, handwritten lyrics of Norworth and Von Tilzer's most celebrated
collaboration now reside among the treasured collections of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, NY.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery
service that reaches every address in the nation, 146 million homes and
businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the
sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating
expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers
nearly half the world's mail.

Pitch In For Baseball, www.pitchinforbaseball.org, is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit
organization based outside Philadelphia, PA. The mission of Pitch In For
Baseball is to improve the social, physical and emotional well being of
children through the game of baseball. Since 2005, Pitch In For Baseball has
delivered new and gently used baseball and softball equipment to underserved
children in more than 100 communities around the United States and more than
50 countries worldwide. For more information, contact Executive Director David
Rhode at drhode@pitchinforbaseball.org or 215-371-2841.

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service

Mark Saunders of U.S. Postal Service, (O) +1-202-268-6524, (C)
+1-202-320-0782, mark.r.saunders@usps.gov; or David Rhode of Pitch In For
Baseball, (O) +1-215-371-2841, (C) +1-215-479-5293,
drhode@pitchinforbaseball.org