10 iconic Sports Illustrated covers that taught us to love baseball
The iconic Sports Illustrated gave us some of the best covers in all of the sports magazines. Here I'll take a look at 10 that give you chills and have dreams of hitting that home run or pitching that gem.
By Jeff Perry
“I read the news today, oh boy." The Beatles song that starts with those lyrics was exactly how I felt when I first heard that Sports Illustrated was laying off most of its staff and was in danger of closing completely.
I had such great childhood memories of waiting for the magazine to enter my mailbox and settling down to read the articles. Of course, what caught your eye was the cover. Oh, those covers! It seemed like the players leaped off the page and came right into your living room. Many of those covers ended up on my wall when I was a kid. If you entered my room, you would have been showered with the likes of Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Rickey Henderson, and tons more. Didn’t matter the league or the team; if you were a great player, you had a spot on my wall.
To choose the best covers is an impossible task ... there are simply too may great ones to count. Instead of worrying about the definitive rankings, this is a simple list of 10 covers to spark your nostalgia for the mighty Sports Illustrated.
10 Sports Illustrated Baseball Covers We'll Never Forget
No. 10: Ghosts of Astros Future
June 30, 2014. SI decided to predict the 2017 Houston Astros as your World Series champions three years before it happened. I’m not sure if Marty McFly was involved or a certain silver car, but they were spot on, and that’s a great example of what made SI so great. Be bold!
No. 9: Henry Aaron Does It
April 15, 1974. SI put the great Henry Aaron on the cover, featuring the slugger holding up the ball he hit out for his 715th home run. If you’ve watched any of the footage of that home run, you will remember that moment and also hear in your head, “Here’s the pitch by Downing, swinging!” Fantastic moment.
No. 8: The Iconic Mr. Berra
July 11, 1955. SI put the great Yogi Berra on the cover. Just look at this cover! If you know who Yogi Berra is, you can picture him exactly without the face mask. It kinda doesn’t look all that different!