The first issue of Sports Illustrated hit newsstands on Aug. 12, 1954. Its cover featured a photo of future Hall of Fame third baseman Eddie Mathews at the plate, mid-swing, against the mesmerizing backdrop of a packed Milwaukee County Stadium.
That inaugural edition of the magazine was the flashpoint that sparked decades of rich reporting and exceptional storytelling—the very things that have come to define SI. Today, almost 70 years later, we hope to continue that tradition as we launch Sports Illustrated Weekly, our new flagship podcast. As your host, each Wednesday I’ll guide you through a range of interviews, in-the-field reporting, features and analysis from some of the best storytellers in the world of sports—just as the magazine faithfully took me on a regularly scheduled journey when I first started reading it, years ago.
