The Sporting News

March 17, 1886: The Sporting News (TSN), founded in St. Louis by Alfred H. Spink, a director of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, publishes its first edition. The weekly newspaper sells for 5 cents. Baseball, horse racing and professional wrestling received the most coverage in the first issue. 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.

[2]

1901: The American League, another rival to baseball's National League, begins playing. TSN was a vocal supporter of the new league and its founder, . Both parties advocated cleaning up the sport, in particular ridding it of liquor sales, gambling and assaults on umpires.

Ban Johnson

1903: TSN editor Arthur Flanner helps draft the National Agreement, a document that brought a truce between the AL and NL and helped bring about the modern .

World Series

1904: New York photographer begins taking portraits of major league players as they pass through the city's three ballparks: the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field. His images, many of which were featured in TSN, have become treasured symbols of baseball's past.

Charles Conlon

1914: Alfred's son, , takes over the paper.

J.G. Taylor Spink

1936: TSN names its first major league , Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants. It is the oldest and most prestigious award given to the single player in MLB who had the most outstanding season. To this day, it remains voted on by MLB players.

Sporting News Player of the Year Award

1942: After decades of being intertwined with baseball, TSN adds in-season football coverage.

1946: TSN expands its football coverage with an eight-page tabloid publication titled The Quarterback. The tab is later renamed the All-Sports News as coverage of other sports is added, including professional and college basketball and hockey.

1962: J.G. Taylor Spink dies. His son C.C. Johnson Spink takes over the publication. In 1962, after Spink's death, the (BBWAA) instituted the J. G. Taylor Spink Award as the highest award given to its members. Spink was also the first recipient.

Baseball Writers' Association of America

1967: TSN publishes its first full-color photo, a cover image of Orioles star .

Frank Robinson

1977: The Spink family sells TSN to in 1977.^[3]

Times Mirror

1981: C.C. Johnson Spink sells TSN to .

Tribune Company

1991: The Sporting News transitions to a glossy, full-color all-sports magazine.

1996: The Sporting News comes online, serving as a sports content provider for AOL. The following year, it launches sportingnews.com.

2000: Tribune Company sells TSN to Vulcan Inc., headed by tech billionaire . The following year, the company acquired the One on One Sports radio network, renaming it Sporting News Radio.

Paul Allen

2002: The magazine drops the from its name and becomes just Sporting News (SN). Subsequent covers reflect the change.

definite article

2006: Vulcan sells SN to Advance Media, which places the publication under the supervision of (ACBJ).

American City Business Journals

2007: Sporting News begins its move from St. Louis, where it had been based since its founding, to ACBJ's headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. The publication leaves St. Louis for good in 2008, when it also became a bi-weekly publication.

2009 – , New York Yankees^[15]

Mariano Rivera

2010 – , Philadelphia Phillies^[16]

Roy Halladay

(discontinued in 1946)

The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award

(all positions; in MLB)

Sporting News Player of the Year

(in each league)

Sporting News Pitcher of the Year

(from 1963 through 2003, there were two categories: Rookie Pitcher of the Year and Rookie Player of the Year)

Sporting News Rookie of the Year

(discontinued in 2011)

Sporting News Reliever of the Year

Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year

(in each league (1986–present); in MLB (1936–1985))

Sporting News Manager of the Year

(in MLB)

Sporting News Executive of the Year

president and chief operating officer of Sporting News Publishing Company and publisher of The Sporting News weekly

Thomas G. Osenton

journalist and author of Who's Who In Canadian Sport^[25]

Bob Ferguson

Official website

on Twitter

The Sporting News