RIP Sports Illustrated

The best baseball covers they ever made

Well it sounds like Sports Illustrated is dead.

Growing up, I always dreamed of getting into Sports Illustrated. First, it was as a star athlete. Then I had to lower my expectations, hoping to one day making the Faces in the Crowd weekly feature that highlighted local sports feats.

My best friend and I would always read the back first, with the “Life of Reilly” column. He said I could do that someday. I said you have to be funny and smart to do that, so I stuck to… math :(

While there’s plenty to write and say about the loss (and slow death) of that beloved magazine, for now I want to remember the good times and the things that made me love this particular periodical in the first place.

Let’s look back at my 10 favorite baseball covers of all-time from Sports Illustrated. Some of these I still have on display around the house, even. In no particular order:

Tony Gwynn, 7/28/1997

This was Gwynn’s only cover his entire 20-year career, but it’s a sweet looking one. The old-school 90’s away orange and blue, the Franklin batting gloves, the swing finish where you just know he hit a single just left of second base.

Bryce Harper, 6/8/2009

This was the cover and story that took Bryce Harper out of the baseball spotlight and into the greater sports spotlight. These kind of phenom articles are usually for basketball stars or young golf and tennis phenoms. The King James one being the most iconic. And despite his polarizing personality, Harper has definitely matched the hype generated by this issue.

Dick Allen, 6/12/1972

This picture basically captures baseball in the Seventies as good as any studio photographer could. The alternate red “White Sox” jerseys, the helmet without flaps, the catcher suiting up with his backwards cap. Dick Allen chilling with a cigarette in the dugout, amazing sideburn and mustache combo and juggling baseballs. You can just feel this photo. You can feel the summer heat baking those fans sitting uncovered above the dugout. You can smell the tobacco wafting through the air. You can hear the clacking of metal cleats on the solid concrete dugout floor. Perfection.

Joe Carter, 11/1/1993

Joe Carter in pure ecstasy jumping around the bases after his World Series-winning walk-off Game 6 home run in 1993 for the Blue Jays is one of those top images in baseball history. It’s beautiful and powerful, with a catchy caption to finish it out.

Issue #1, 8/16/1954

The first issue of Sports Illustrated featured the powerful left-handed swing of Eddie Mathews of the then-Milwaukee Braves on the cover. The photo, by Mark Kauffman, still holds up, especially knowing how dark those stadiums were back then with the poor lightning. A crowd full of fans, the orange and black of the New York Giants catcher and the blur of Mathews’ swing. The first issue showed just how iconic their photography would be in the sports world.

Mickey Mantle, 6/18/1956

A simple portrait by Hy Peskin in the midst of Mantle’s monstrous Triple Crown-winning 1956 season. The Mick would make the cover 10 times, including his final one where he goes into his life of alcoholism. This was his first cover and he just looks like the game’s most feared and popular slugger that he was at the time. Casual Yankee hat, gentle stare into the distance and even with a closeup, you can tell how much muscle he was packing under those pinstripes.

Arizona Diamondbacks, 11/12/2001

You can never go wrong with a World Series celebration photo. Six weeks of Spring Training, 162 games of hardball and travel, 3 grueling postseason series, and one national tragedy, all led to this outpouring of jubilation just after Luis Gonzalez’s blooper found the short center field grass. Two other fun things about this photo… look at the address line and the spot for the AOL Keyword. And the poor photographer having to probably adjust for the glare off Matt Williams’ bald head.

Steroids in Baseball, 6/3/2002

This simple cover blew up the sport. Two needles photoshopped onto a baseball and the first admission by a player of steroid use, former MVP Ken Caminiti. Everything changed with this issue. Home run heroes of the generation instantly got painted as PED-using cheaters. Congressional hearings followed and pressured the league to address the problem, albeit slowly. The penalties started with TEN games! They eventually evolved to the current 80-162-Life progression today.

715, 4/15/1974

The issue after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Saluting the crowd at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Knowing everything he went through during that pursuit, you can see the happiness and sense of relief in his expression.

Ken Griffey Jr., 10/16/1995

Any cover with Ken Griffey Jr. on it is iconic. Here is finishing another one of his gorgeous swings, his eyes tracking the ball on its way out of the Kingdome. Imagine getting a first-person view of watching the ball sizzle away after unleashing that purist of swings on a hanging slider. *Homer drooling gif* I picked this one because this was the peak of his Mariners stardom. They just knocked off the Yankees in that unforgettable 1995 ALDS, the winning run that built their new ballpark.

Those are my top 10. Did I miss any?