A Sports Magazine.

On 16 August 1954 sports journalism in America was changed forever when Sports Illustrated hit the newsstands. The first issue's cover showed Milwaukee Braves slugger Eddie Matthews taking one of his enviable home-run swings. Two major differences would separate this magazine from all the other sports journals. First, Sports Illustrated was directly aimed at the American middle-class consumer and budding television-sports spectator; second, and perhaps more important, SI was a property of the Henry Luce media empire that included Time and Life, and so SI was guaranteed the financial backing and time required to find its audience.

Readership.

During the 1950s Sports Illustrated was casting about for its readership; and at the end of the decade it was still sorting out exactly what sports to cover. For the first five years just about anything could and would appear in its...