The Sporting News

Sporting News (previously The Sporting News, and known colloquially as TSN) is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball". It is currently owned by Charlotte, North Carolina-based American City Business Journals, a subsidiary of Advance Publications.

SN currently covers seven main sports — Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), NASCAR, and NCAA men's basketball and football — with occasional coverage of other sports.

Following 122 years of existence as a weekly publication, the magazine switched to a bi-weekly publishing schedule in 2008. Earlier that year, it launched a daily online newspaper, Sporting News Today. Then, in 2011, its print publishing schedule changed again; the magazine is now issued monthly.

History
TSN was founded by Alfred H. Spink, a director of the St. Louis Browns and former writer for the Missouri Republican daily newspaper. Each number was 17 by 22 inches, eight pages, price five cents (Cooper 1996). The Browns were champions of the American Association, one of two major leagues in baseball, with a claim to the championship of the United States or the world based on the disputed 1885 World Series contest with regional rival Chicago, and the undisputed 1886 winner. Meanwhile the sporting weeklies Clipper and Sporting Life were based in New York and Philadelphia. By World War I, TSN would be the only national baseball newspaper. Al Spink had long turned it over to his brother, first hiring Charles as business manager, then selling his stock, and finally departing from writing and editorial work in 1899 (Cooper 1996).

Throughout much of the 20th century TSN was decidedly non-glamorous, consisting of black-and-white newsprint with staid graphics. However it was the only vehicle for serious sports fans to follow teams from around the nation. For example, each week it printed a box score and blurb for every baseball game played in the major leagues and numerous minor leagues. Similarly, every issue had a report on each major league baseball team, usually written by a local newspaper's beat writer for that team. Franklin Gritts, the Cherokee artist, served as TSN's art director from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s.

Other publications of the Sporting News included the annual Baseball Register, an almanac of baseball statistics for that year. Its subtitle from the 40s through the mid 60s was The Game's Four Hundred.

The Spink family sold TSN to Times Mirror in the mid-1980s. Also around this time the company began publishing annual previews for professional and college football, professional and college basketball, baseball, and hockey.

With the advent of national sports media in the 1980s such as USA Today and ESPN, and of comprehensive web sites run by the major sports leagues in the 1990s, TSN lost this unique role. Consequently, it evolved into more of a conventional, glossy sports magazine in both appearance and contents. Box scores disappeared from its pages in the late 1980s, but were still made available to subscribers in a separate publication for an undetermined period of time afterwards. The online SN Today revived the tradition of publishing boxscores in its virtual pages.

In 2001, the company acquired the One on One Sports radio network, renaming it Sporting News Radio. The same year, it was purchased by Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc.

In September 2006, American City Business Journals acquired TSN and its online division. With the change in ownership, the company ceased most of its book publishing efforts. The 2006 Baseball Guide, a TSN annual in one form or another since the 1920s, was its last. The 2007 Baseball Register, an annual since the early 1940s, was its last. The 2007 Baseball Record Book was only available online, as a download. None of these guides were published in 2008.

In 2011, Sporting News appointed Garry D. Howard as editor-in-chief of Sporting News magazine, Sporting News Today and its website, Sporting News Feed. Howard came to Sporting News from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he was sports editor. Howard also was president of the Associated Press Sports Editors. Also as part of its reorganization in 2011, Benson Taylor was named managing editor of SN magazine and Paul Kasko was named managing editor of SN Today and SN Feed.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award
In 1962, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) instituted the J. G. Taylor Spink Award as the highest award given to its members. The award was named after J. G. Taylor Spink, publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 to 1962, who was also the first recipient.

Sportsman of the Year

 * Note: A different Sportsman of the Year award is presented by Sports Illustrated magazine.

From 1968 to 2008, the magazine selected one or more individuals as Sportsman of the Year. On four occasions, the award was shared by two recipients. Twice, in 1993 and 2000, the award went to a pair of sportsmen within the same organization. In 1999, the honor was given to a whole team. No winner was chosen in 1987.

On December 18, 2007, the magazine announced New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as 2007 Sportsman of the Year, making Brady the first to repeat as a recipient of individual honors. Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals was also honored twice, but shared his second award with Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs.

In 2009, the award was replaced by two awards: Pro Athlete of the Year and College Athlete of the Year.


 * 1968 - Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers
 * 1969 - Tom Seaver, New York Mets
 * 1970 - John Wooden, UCLA basketball
 * 1971 - Lee Trevino, golf
 * 1972 - Charlie Finley, Oakland A's
 * 1973 - O.J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills
 * 1974 - Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
 * 1975 - Archie Griffin, Ohio State football
 * 1976 - Larry O'Brien, National Basketball Association commissioner
 * 1977 - Steve Cauthen, horse racing
 * 1978 - Ron Guidry, New York Yankees
 * 1979 - Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
 * 1980 - George Brett, Kansas City Royals
 * 1981 - Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
 * 1982 - Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals
 * 1983 - Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball commissioner
 * 1984 - Peter Ueberroth, Olympics organizer
 * 1985 - Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
 * 1986 - Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
 * 1987 - (none)
 * 1988 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympics


 * 1989 - Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
 * 1990 - Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers
 * 1991 - Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
 * 1992 - Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University basketball
 * 1993 - Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays
 * 1994 - Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
 * 1995 - Cal Ripken, Baltimore Orioles
 * 1996 - Joe Torre, New York Yankees
 * 1997 - Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals
 * 1998 - Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
 * 1999 - New York Yankees
 * 2000 - Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams
 * 2001 - Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks
 * 2002 - Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame American football
 * 2003 - Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jack McKeon, Florida Marlins
 * 2004 - Tom Brady, New England Patriots
 * 2005 - Matt Leinart, USC Trojans football
 * 2006 - Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
 * 2007 - Tom Brady, New England Patriots
 * 2008 - Eli Manning, New York Giants

Pro Athlete of the Year

 * See also: Associated Press Athlete of the Year, Best Female Athlete ESPY Award, Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year


 * 2009 – Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
 * 2010 – Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

College Athlete of the Year

 * 2009 – Colt McCoy, Texas football
 * 2010 – Kyle Singler, Duke men's basketball

High School Athlete of the Year

 * 2010 – Mike Bellamy

Athletes of the Decade

 * See footnote


 * NFL Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Peyton Manning, QB, Colts


 * College Football Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Matt Leinart, QB, USC


 * MLB Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Albert Pujols, 1B, Cardinals


 * NBA Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Kobe Bryant, SG, Lakers


 * College Basketball Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Tyler Hansbrough, C, North Carolina


 * NHL Player of the Decade
 * 2009 – Nicklas Lidstrom, D, Red Wings


 * NASCAR Athlete of the Decade
 * 2009 – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48, Hendrick Motorsports

Major-league baseball awards

 * See also: Baseball awards and List of MLB awards

SN sponsors its own annual Team, Player, Pitcher, Rookie, Reliever, Comeback Player, Manager, and Executive of the Year awards. Prior to 2005, the SN Comeback Player Award was generally recognized as the principal award of its type, as MLB did not give such an award until that year.

Annual

 * The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award (discontinued in 1946)
 * Sporting News Player of the Year (includes all positions, for both leagues, combined)
 * Sporting News Pitcher of the Year (in each league)
 * Sporting News Rookie of the Year (from 1963 through 2003, there were two categories: Rookie Pitcher of the Year and Rookie Player of the Year)
 * Sporting News Reliever of the Year
 * Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year
 * Sporting News All-Star Team: 1925–2005, 1964–2009, 2009, 2010
 * Sporting News Manager of the Year
 * Sporting News Executive of the Year

One-time only

 * 1998
 * The Sporting News list of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players


 * 1990s
 * The Sporting News Player of the Decade (1999) – Barry Bonds (Pirates–Giants)


 * 2009
 * Sporting News Top 50 Players (in 2009). The list is based on the polling of a panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards.


 * 2000s
 * Sporting News All-Decade Team (2009): C – Joe Mauer, Twins; 1B – Albert Pujols, Cardinals; 2B – Jeff Kent, Giants–Astros–Dodgers; 3B – Alex Rodriguez, Mariners–Rangers–Yankees; SS – Derek Jeter, Yankees; OF – Barry Bonds, Giants; OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners; OF – Manny Ramirez, Indians–Red Sox–Dodgers; DH – David Ortiz, Twins–Red Sox; SP – Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks–Yankees–Giants; RP – Mariano Rivera, Yankees


 * Sporting News MLB Athlete of the Decade (2009) – Albert Pujols
 * Sporting News Manager of the Decade (2009) – Joe Torre (Dodgers/Yankees)
 * Sporting News Team of the Decade (2009) – Boston Red Sox
 * Sporting News Executive of the Decade (2009) - Theo Epstein (Boston Red Sox)
 * Sporting News Performance of the Decade (2009) – Mark Buehrle (Chicago White Sox)
 * Sporting News Game of the Decade (2009) – Game 7, 2001 World Series, Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 2 (Luis Gonzlez' Game Winning Hit off Rivera in 9th inning.

Minor-league baseball awards

 * Sporting News Minor League Organization of the Year

Professional basketball awards

 * NBA Executive of the Year Award

College basketball awards

 * Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year

Professional football awards

 * Sporting News NFL MVP Award (1954–69 and since 1980)
 * Sporting News AFC and NFC player of the year awards (1970–79)
 * Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (since 1947)
 * Sporting News All-Pro Team (since 1980)
 * Sporting News All-Conference Team (from 1950s till 1979) (defunct)

College football awards

 * Sporting News College Football Player of the Year (1942)
 * Sporting News All-America Team (1934)
 * Sporting News All-America quarterbacks
 * Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year

Honors lists

 * 50 greatest coaches of all time (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, and college football) (2009)

Writers

 * Troy Aikman
 * Chris Bahr
 * Ken Bradley
 * Clifton Brown
 * Randy Cross
 * Matt Crossman
 * Dave Curtis
 * Craig Custance
 * Mike DeCourcy


 * Sean Deveney
 * Ryan Fagan
 * Sean Gentille
 * Dan Graf
 * Steve Greenberg
 * Matt Hayes
 * Bob Hille
 * Vinnie Iyer
 * Todd Jones


 * Brian McLaughlin
 * Stan McNeal
 * Reggie Miller
 * Greg Oden
 * John Riggins
 * Reid Spencer
 * Hank Steinbrenner
 * George Winkler