Sports, Entertainment Get USPS Stamp Of Approval In 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 03:40AM 
December 31, 2009: The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled its stamp line up for 2010, and sports and entertainment are well represented.
Coming on January 22 will be a 44¢ stamp featuring an airborne snowboarder against the backdrop of a snow-capped mountain, which will be released to coincide with the XXI Olympic Winter Games, which will be held Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The U.S. Postal Service has commemorated both the Summer and Winter Olympics on stamps since 1932, when the cost of a first-class stamp was 3¢.
In June, the USPS will honor Negro Leagues baseball with a set of two 44¢ stamps. n 1920, Andrew “Rube” Foster (1879–1930) — who began his baseball career as a pitcher — established the Negro National League, the first successful league of African-American teams. Foster, who is considered the “father” of Negro leagues baseball, is featured on the two stamps, which comprise a single scene painted by Kadir Nelson, whose original paintings comprised the 2008 book, We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The all-black professional baseball leagues operated until about 1960, boasting such baseball legends as Satchel Page, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Buck O'Neil, Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson.
Also of interest in 2010, the issuance of the “Cowboys of the Silver Screen” stamps, with the USPS honoring four men who helped make the American Western a popular form of entertainment. Film stars from the silent era through the singing era are featured on the stamps: William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. The stamps go on sale April 17. The "Sunday Funnies" stamp pane will honor Archie, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. The stamps go on sale in July. And a stamp of Katharine Hepburn will hit post offices on May 12, the next in the Legends of Hollywood series.
The USPS seeks a better 2010 than it had in 2009, when it reported a third-quarter net loss of $2.4 billion and projected a net loss of $7 billion for the fiscal year. The USPS said that "ongoing electronic diversion and the widespread economic depression continued to reduce mail volume." Mail volume fell by nearly 20 billion pieces during the first three quarters of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, representing the largest consecutive three-quarter drop in total volume since 1971, per the USPS.