The first edition of The Sporting News was published by Alfred H. Spink and his brother, Charles, on March 17, 1886, in St. Louis. A total of 4,986 issues of the weekly appeared with the Spink name at the top. The eight-page paper sold for five cents, or $2.50 per year, and featured news of baseball, cycling, hunting, boxing, and the stage. Charles C. Spink was in South Dakota trying his hand at homesteading when his brother offered him $50 a week to handle the business end of the publication. The Spinks later published the first baseball guide, as well as record books, The Sporting News Dealer, and many baseball books. The paper stayed in the family until it was sold in 1977 to the Times-Mirror Company for $18 million.

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In the early 20th century, it had evolved into a baseball-only paper. After WWII, it began to cover other sports. In 1962 C.C. Johnson Spink removed the traditional eagle with a streamer in his beak reading "Baseball" from the masthead, despite strong objections from longtime readers. Keeping the record straight and siding with whatever it felt was in the best interests of the game were two hallmarks of the paper. In 1981 they discovered an error in a 1910 box score that would have made Nap Lajoie that year's batting champion instead of Ty Cobb. A committee appointed by the Commissioner's office voted unanimously that the records should not be changed. The Sporting News answered, "They said we were trying to rewrite history. But if history is wrong it should be righted." (NLM)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » March 17, 1886: The Sporting News, the weekly that will become "The Baseball Paper of the World," publishes its first issue. » November 6, 1886: The Sporting News publishes the official National League averages, which show King Kelly as the batting champ with a .388 average, 17 points ahead of Cap Anson. The paper previously had printed its own stats showing Anson ahead, .374 to .366. » January 29, 1889: Veteran Joe Hornung is released by Boston after eight years with that club. According to The Sporting News, "Ubbo's unruly tongue was the principal cause of his release." » August 25, 1900: Criticism of administration in the National League continues. The Sporting News offers the new American League some editorial encouragement: "An organization opposed to the National League will be welcome because it will mean the elevation of the game if it is successful." » October 10, 1904: John McGraw issues a statement saying that he, not president John Brush, was responsible for refusing to play the AL winner in a post season series. The Sporting News will declare the Pilgrims champions by default. » September 21, 1910: At Atlanta, Mobile and Atlanta break the "world's time record" for a 9-inning game, completing the match in 32 minutes. Mobile wins, 2–1. (as noted by R.J. Lesch, from The Sporting News). Both teams run in after each inning, hitters usually swing at the first pitch, though there is one walk and four stolen bases in the game. » October 9, 1910: Cobb, meanwhile, rather than risk his average, sits out the last two games, the Tigers beating the White Sox in the finale, 2–1. Ban Johnson investigates and clears everyone concerned, enabling Ty Cobb to win the 3rd of nine straight batting crowns. The embarrassed Chalmers Auto Company awards cars to both Ty and Nap. In 1981 The Sporting News uncovers an error—crediting a 2-for-3 game twice to Cobb—that, if corrected, would give the championship to Nap Lajoie. But the commissioner's committee votes unanimously to leave history unchanged. » December 23, 1913: The Sporting News reports that 15 men died from baseball injuries during the 1913 season, according to a list compiled by J.R. Vickery of Chicago (as noted by R.J. Lesch). The only name given is that of J. Whetstone of New Orleans, who suffered "a broken spine sustained in sliding to a base"; all other fatalities were the result of foul tips or pitched balls. The list "does not include a major league player or even a minor league athlete of sufficient experience in baseball to be widely known." » November 25, 1930: The Sporting News, also acting to fill the MVP void, announces its selection of Bill Terry as the Most Valuable Player in the National League, and Joe Cronin in the American League. » June 20, 1940: Boston loses a pair—and the four game series—to the Browns, 2–1 and 11–4, and drops out of first place. The Indians take over 1st with a 12–1 drubbing of the Senators. The new issue of The Sporting News headlines "'I'll be Nice if I Can,' says Vitt of Tribe Truce." » July 14, 1940: In the aftermath of the beanball wars, Spalding advertises a batting helmet with ear flaps in The Sporting News. Players express no interest, but next year Brooklyn will introduce a cap liner, which some batters start to use. » April 14, 1941: The season opens in Washington, with writers for The Sporting News selecting Cincinnati to repeat in the NL and Cleveland to win the AL. » April 1, 1942: The Sporting News raises its price to 15 cents a copy, $7 per year. » August 6, 1942: An editorial in The Sporting News argues for segregation on the diamond. The column states that members of each race "prefer to draw their talents from their own ranks and both groups know their crowd psychology and do not care to run the risk of damaging their own game." » February 24, 1943: The Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of the war. The Cardinals, with 260 farm players in the service, will reduce farm clubs from 22 to 6. Only nine minor leagues will start the 1943 season. Advertisements for players appear in The Sporting News. » July 1, 1943: The Sporting News switches to a tabloid format from a standard metro layout as a means of saving newsprint. » March 8, 1945: As noted by historian Bill Deane, today's edition of The Sporting News has a column from Boston Post writer Jack Malaney, a former president of the Baseball Writers' Association, and future member of the Hall of Fame Veterans' Committee. He introduces what will come to be known as the "Jack Malaney Plan", proposing that each of the 16 major league teams play inter-league exhibition games on July 10, scheduled to minimize travel. The five cities that have teams in each league—Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis—would host games between the cross-town rivals, while the others would play in cities en route to regularly-scheduled games. Proceeds from the games would be split between the American Red Cross and the National War Fund. » July 7, 1948: The Indians stun the baseball world by signing Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. The move is ridiculed by some as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, and A.G. Spink in The Sporting News editorializes, "Veeck has gone too far in his quest for publicity. . . . To sign a hurler at Paige's age is to demean the standards of baseball in the big circuits." The 42-year-old Paige will answer the critics in tomorrow, getting a relief decision in a 8–6 win over New York in a DH sweep. He will finish at 6–1. Paige is the oldest player to debut in the majors, but not the first 40-year-old: Chuck Hostetler in 1944 was 40. » November 9, 1950: The White Sox release Luke Appling, who has been with the Sox since 1930, so he can become the manager of the Memphis Chicks (SA). He accepted the job with the Chicks on November 1. He'll be named minor league manager of the year, by The Sporting News, in 1952. » October 4, 1958: The Sporting News names Washington OF Albie Pearson and Yankee P Ryne Duren as its AL Rookies of the Year; the Giants 1B Orlando Cepeda and P Carl Willey of the Braves as its NL Rookies of the Year. » June 18, 1960: The Giants, a big favorite to win the pennant in a preseason poll of writers taken by The Sporting News, change managers, replacing Bill Rigney with Tom Sheehan. Horace Stoneham's team is 33-25 and trails only Pittsburgh. At 66 years, two months, and 18 days, Sheehan is the oldest rookie manager in ML history. » December 7, 1962: J.G. Taylor Spink, longtime publisher of The Sporting News, dies at age 74 in St. Louis. » January 17, 1970: The Sporting News names Willie Mays as Player of the Decade for the 1960s. » June 7, 1986: University of Arkansas's Jeff King, The Sporting News college player of the year, is the first choice in the June draft. The Pirates take the third baseman. U. of Texas P Greg Swindell is the next pick by Cleveland. Neither will sign for six weeks but Swindell will be in the major leagues after going 2–1 in the minors. The Giants take UNLV's Matt Williams with the 3rd pick; Texas, picking 4th, selects Kevin Brown, followed by high schooler Kent Mercker (Braves), Gary Sheffield (Brewers) and Brad Brink (Phillies). After being skipped over because scouts are convinced the Heisman Trophy winner is headed to the NFL, Bo Jackson is taken in the 4th round by the Royals. College Pitcher of the Year Mike Loynd is taken by Texas in the 7th Round. A total of 331 high schoolers are drafted, the most since 1979, due mainly to the dissolution of the January draft. » June 24, 1993: Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, plays his 2,226 and final ML game, surpassing Bob Boone's record of 2,225 for most games caught. Fisk reluctantly retires with 3,999 total bases, the most ever for a catcher. The Sox will exacerbate Fisk's bitterness by refusing to allow him into the locker room after the Sox make the playoffs this year. When the Sox retire Fisk #72 in 1997, Fisk will request that Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Ron Schueler not be there for the ceremony, and when he goes into Cooperstown he will wear a Red Sox cap. A clerical error about three games caught in 1981 in which Fisk relieved initially gives him a total of 2,229 games caught. This error will appear on Fisk's Hall of Fame plaque when he is inducted, the 5th edition of Total Baseball, and the 1997 edition of The Sports Encyclopedia-Baseball. Other records books such as the final edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia, the 1997 editions of The Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book and the Elias Book of Baseball Records both correctly showed him with 2,226 games caught lifetime. SABR historian Wayne McElreavy and others note the discrepancy and the plaque and subsequent editions of the record books have corrected the total to 2,226. » June 3, 1997: The annual June amateur draft features two brothers being drafted in the first round. Ignoring J.D. Drew's warnings about not drafting him unless they're ready to pay out, the Phils take the FSU junior with the 2nd pick, while the Indians take his brother Tim Drew, a high school senior, with the 28th pick: it's the first time brothers have been picked in the same first round. In another first, Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, VA, has two players picked on the first round; Michael Cuddyer, a SS, by the Twins with the 9th pick, and pitcher John Curtice, by the Red Sox with the 17th pick. The number one pick overall is Rice University pitcher Matt Anderson by the Tigers, who skip over J.D. Drew because of the anticipated cost. Anderson was the WAC Tournament MVP and the top pitching prospect in the Cape Cod League last summer. Drew, The Sporting News College Player of the Year, is the first Division I player in history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in one season. » October 23, 2000: Toronto's Carlos Delgado is named Player of the Year by The Sporting News.