Talk:The Sporting News
From BR Bullpen
The Sporting News was the most important and best sports publication that ever was. Sadly, it isn't any longer, nor has been for a long time.
Alfred Henry Spink - Al Spink founded Sporting News in St. Louis, MO, where it has been ever since, on March 17, 1886. He sold it to his brother Charles Spink in 1895.
Charles Spink was a fabulous owner/editor, and ran it from 1895, to his death on April 22, 1914.
Charles' son John George J.G. Taylor Spink inherited it, and ran it from April 22, 1914, until his death Dec. 7, 1962. He had been as fantastic as his Dad. During WW II, he had sent free copies to US service men overseas, and expanded it to include all sports, mainly including boxing & football.
Upon his death, it was inherited by Charles Claude C.C. Johnson Spink who ran it from Dec. 7, 1962 until he sold it in Jan., 1977, to the Times Mirror Corporation for $18m. He did a respectable, credible job, but was not in the same league as his 2 immediate predecessors, who had been inexhaustible, relentless powerhouse perfectionists. In 1990, the paper stopped running obituaries, which to me was a devastating blow. That editorial decision caused me to abandon it.
From its inception in 1876 to WWII, it ran only 8-10 page issues. By the 60's, it was up to around 40, during the 70's-80's it often ran up to 100 page issues. Today, it usually runs 68 page issues.
While it started out as a general sports publication, in 1900, it became primarily a baseball newspaper, and hence adopted the moniker, The Bible of Baseball. And it richly earned it title until 1942. In 1942, The Sporting News incorporated football, basketball and hockey into its regular lineup, and has kept them there ever since.
Policy-wise, TSN opposed the Players League of 1890, calling it "outlaw", supported Ban Johnson/Charlie Comiskey's launching of the American League, was a worthy adversary of Commissioner Judge Landis, always supported AL President Ban Johnson, fully promoted BB stars such as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, did not support Joe Jackson's or Buck Weaver's innocence in the Black Sox scandal, and supported the Yankees' in disciplining Babe Ruth.
In 1996, it incorporated 4 color photos.
Today, it sells around 520,000 copies every week, and is an important publication, but no longer stands out from its competition. It requires its obituaries section & interviews from former players to give it its former historical relevance, continuity & context.
Despite its decline, I must still highly recommend using it as a research resource. One can access it via paperofrecord. Its full run since 1886 is all there available. SABR members receive a hefty discount. It's an indispensable archival resource for reference & research. They have assured me that they are looking into an improved search engine.
And Baseball Magazine must come in second for most important BB publication. Available from the Library of Congress for around $1,000. I bought the 22 reels of microfilm, and have never regretted it. It ran from 1908-54. And was a great publication up to around 1950. The Sports Library in Los Angeles is doing a project putting a lot of it online. (323-730-4646) Wonderful reading. [url]http://www.aafla.org/search/search_frmst.htm[/url]
Bill Burgess
[edit] This is posted on Baseball Fever...
Can Bill Burgess confirm that he posted this himself?
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=297155&postcount=74
--Scott 16:49, 19 Dec 2005 (EST)
[edit] paperofrecord.com
Sadly:
December 2, 2008
Google has completed the purchase of 20 million digitized historical newspaper pages from PaperofRecord.com. The two have had an agreement for two years and has now concluded in a sale that was voted on by shareholders of PaperofRecord's parent company, Cold North Wind, Inc. ...
The Sporting News did not transfer over to the Google searches. Therefore an incredibly valuable resource to baseball historians and fans is now unavailable (hopefully temporarily). --Jeff 01:28, 21 February 2009 (EST)
