Date meets ZIP of Iowa town with remarkable high school baseball history

Postmark Pursuit — By Molly Goad

The date meets the ZIP code in Norway, Iowa, on May 23, and a commemorative postmark has been issued for the event. Norway (population 545) is about 17 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Norway’s ZIP code is 52318, and the matching May 23 postmark (5-23-18) also has a baseball theme.

The cancel honors the town’s impressive high school baseball team, which played its last inning of baseball in 1991 when the school closed its doors. The team garnered 20 state high school baseball championships from 1965-91.

The 1991 championship ended in dramatic fashion, with the team trailing by a run in the seventh inning (the final inning in high school baseball). According to The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, batter Kyle Schmidt of Norway’s team was behind the count with two strikes, two outs, and nobody on base.

And Schmidt had 13 previous state championship at bats without a hit. It didn’t look good.

Perhaps that fueled the fire, as Schmidt doubled and later scored the tying run when the next batter doubled. The game went into extra innings, but only one was needed as Norway scored three runs in the top of the eighth for the 7-4 win.

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Norway won its final state championship and became a legendary, feel-good story in high school sports. The narrative was inspiration for the 2007 movie The Final Season starring Sean Astin, Rachael Leigh Cook and Tom Arnold.

To obtain the postmark, address your request to:

DATE MEETS ZIP Station, Postmaster, Box 9998, Norway, IA 52318-9998.