The 1920's

The 1920's, also known as the Golden age, also the decade between the end of WW1 and the start of the great depression. But also the 20's was the Age of the Spectators as new and bigger stadiums and gymnasiums were being built and the radio became the popular way of news travel. For the first time ever, large populations of Americans began to pay actual money to watch people compete in athletic contest. The 20's was when baseball stole the hearts of spectators and became the "national pastime." Still to this day baseball is considered a ''national pastime". The New York Yankees right fielder was making heads spin by hitting more home runs than any player had ever hit, exciting fans, and becoming the most famous athlete in the United States. Yes, George Hurman "Babe" Ruth was the man of the roaring 20's who made these heads spin. Babe Ruth was one of the greatest hitters of his time. Even the greatest hitter of his time had the fear of striking out but he beleived “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”

Then in August of 1954 sports journalism in America was changed forever by the birth of Sports Illustrated magazine. The first cover page of Sports Illustrated was a picture of Milwaukee Braves slugger Eddie Matthews taking one of his enviable home run swings. The first 5 years of the magazine were to grow the magazine towards the middle-class consumer and sports spectator and covered just about any sport it could cover. Over time the magazine started to write about football and basketball instead of just baseball. Now the magazine writes about any professional sport and also college sports and sometimes a little to do with high school.

Today sport journalist revels in the fact that one out of every five Americans is a steady customer at the local bowling alley, one out of twenty plays golf or tennis. And, when they are not playing the sport, they are most certainly watching, making the need for reporting bigger than it ever has been. For sport's biggest bills, television more often than not picks up the tab, and sports of all sorts bring out the best of TV, the imagination of its reporters, and the skills of its engineers.



The majority of this piece was written by information taken from this source
http://www.helium.com/items/1060127-a-brief-history-of-sports-journalism