Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox is the fourth player chosen for next year's U.S. Major League Baseball All-Stars stamps (formerly announced as Baseball Greats). Williams. The USPS announcement says, "Ted Williams (1918-2002) of the Boston Red Sox was the last Major League player to bat over .400 for a single season (in 1941). He won six American League batting titles and four home run titles and hit .344 over 19 years, including 521 home runs. Today, Williams is regarded as one of the all-time greatest hitters in Major League Baseball history."

As the stamp a day announcements continue at Beyond the Perf , we learn that the 2012 issues will include:

Ten stamps for Twentieth Century poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Joseph Brodsky, Gwendolyn Brooks, E. E. Cummings, Robert Hayden, Denise Levertov, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams.

Five stamps showing weather vanes in the shapes of a cow, an eagle, two roosters, and a centaur.

Four stamps showing the U.S. flag above the words freedom, liberty, equality and justice (one word per stamp).

Two stamps in the five-year series of Civil War commemoratives: Battle of New Orleans and Battle of Antietam.

This might be one of the strangest stamp subjects of recent years. Next year's U.S. stamp schedule includes five stamps showing Hawiian shirts.

Here's how the entry at Beyond the Perf describes the set:

"Nothing says 'Hawai'i' or conjures casual good times like the colorful Aloha shirt, which takes its name from the Hawaiian word often used as a blessing or greeting. The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the spirit of 'Aloha' with five stamps, each depicting a different shirt.

"Aloha shirts are made from boldly patterned fabric showing decorative images of Hawaiian life. Two of the five classic shirts depicted in the stamp art showcase surfers and their boards; one shows fossil fish, shells, and sea stars; another shows a tropical flower known as the bird of paradise; and one shows Kilauea, a volcano on the Big Island of Hawai'i."

No, Tom Selleck (Magnum PI) is not wearing the shirts.

The other announced subject is Willie Stargell, the third of four subjects of a Baseball Greats block of four.

Learn more here. At least five more announcements are still coming as the USPS announces a stamp a day on the Web.

A second set of stamps showing characters from Disney/Pixar movies is among the U.S. stamps planned for next year. The first set was issued on Aug. 20. Next year's "Send a Smile" stamps will show characters from "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," " Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." The article at Beyond the Perf. does not name the characters, and I haven't seen the movies, so I can't list them.

Other stamps announced in the continuing stamp-a-day program will honor Earthscapes: Urban (residential subdivision, barge fleeting, railroad roundhouse, skyscarper apartments and highway interchange), Larry Doby (one of the four Baseball Greats block), John Huston and Billy Wilder (two of four Great Film Directors block), and "Flowers" by William H. Johnson (American Treasures series).

I'm catching up after missing some items because of my daily shift at the stamp booth at the Ventura County Fair. The latest announcements for U.S. stamps for 2012 are as follows:

Frank Capra, the second of four stamps showing Great Film Directors.

Joe DiMaggio, the first of four stamps announced for a Baseball Greats set.

Earthscapes: Agricultural: sale evaporation ponds, log rafts on way to sawmill, center-pivot irrigation, cherry orchard and cranberry harvest.

Earthscapes: Urban: designs to be announced.

Flags of Our Nation: 6 stamps in a continuing series (Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming plus the flags of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States).

Bonsai (five stamps)

Pictures at more details can be found here.

The U.S. Postal Service has announced more stamps planned for 2012. Pictures and expanded descriptions can be found here.

A set of four stamps will honor Innovative Choreographers. The subjects are Isadora Duncan, Jose Limon, Katherine Dunham and Bob Fosse.

The year's Literary Arts stamp will feature O. Henry, master of the short story.

An Earthscapes: Natural set will feature pictures of glaciers and icebergs, volcanic crater, geothermal spring, butte in early morning fog and an island marsh.

A series of four stamps will honor Great Film Directors. The only one announced so far is John Ford.

The USPS took a few days off to issue some stamps, but the Stamp A Day program is under way again. The latest additions to the 2012 schedule are Celebrate Scouting, which shows girls (boys were on the 2010 Scouting stamp) and Heart Health.

The latest 2012 issue to be announced by the USPS is a block of four Christmas stamps showing Santa and his sleigh in flight. Go here for the picture.

The latest listing for 2012 U.S. issues is the Year of the Dragon, the annual Lunar New Year stamp. Many countries are issuing these, and they seem to be quite popular.

The latest addition to the USPS "A Stamp a Day" page is a set of four stamps showing bicycling. See the pictures. All the issues so far are "forever" stamps, meaning they'll always be good for whatever the rate is for a one-ounce first-class letter.

The U.S. Postal Service is slowly unveiling its 2012 stamp program at A Stamp A Day.

Subjects announced so far are the Cherry Blossom Centennial (2 stamps), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Love Ribbons and John H. Johnson (Black Heritage).

Collectors are commenting on the plans at the Virtual Stamp Club.