For nearly half a century Taylor Spink occupied a command post in the business of American journalism. As publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 until his death, he produced a weekly newspaper so indispensable to the baseball fraternity that it was venerated for decades as the "Bible of Baseball." Players, managers, umpires, executives, broadcasters, sportswriters, and fans felt compelled to read The Sporting News each week for its mixture of news, features, statistics, opinions, and "inside dope." At the head of this enterprise stood the diminutive and indefatigable Spink. Addicted to long hours of hard work, married to the telephone, and obsessed with accuracy and perfection, he achieved the status of a legend for both himself and his publication.

John George Taylor Spink was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Charles Claude and Marie Taylor Spink on 6 November 1888. Spink's paternal grandparents, William, a former legislator in Quebec, and...