2. Hobby Magazine Profile: Sports Scoop
[Editor's Note: Below is the first of a series of articles about early hobby publications that we will run from time to time in the Old Cardboard eNewsletter. We have also added a new section to the OC website so that website users can readily access information about early hobby publications in a format similar to that used for card sets. Thus, where available, checklists of full runs of magazines will be provided along with galleries of their front covers. The Sports Scoop web pages have now been posted and others will follow. We hope that you enjoy the new section and welcome input from readers to help complete the checklists and gallerys for other early hobby publications.]
Format for Issues 6-20 |
Format for Issues 1-5
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Four West Coast friends--John Eichmann, Steve Mitchell, Russ Dille and Frederick Mahler--teamed up in early 1973 to launch Sports Scoop, a highly regarded hobby publication of the period.
The four brought varying experiences and interests to the project but each spent the many hours required to make even this small publication a going concern. Eichmann, Mitchell and Dille were collectors with a passion toward books. Eichmann's main interest was statistics; Mitchell's, cards; and Dille, the minor leagues. The late Frederick Mahler was a non-collector but a stalwart friend who devoted countless hours assembling each issue.
Mitchell had distributed an earlier hobby publication, the Sports Collector's Journal, beginning in 1967. SCJ was published over the next five years, with a significant break while Mitchell was in the service, through early 1972. It was about that time the foursome began planning the launch of Sports Scoop.
Sports Scoop's first issue of 36 pages featured Johnny Mize on the cover (example shown above) and was distributed in February of 1973. It was printed in a 7 by 8-1/2 inch format on heavy paper stock. The content included a balanced mixture of news, articles and advertising. The black and white offset printing included liberal use of images throughout.
Starting with Issue #6 in July 1973, the magazine moved to a larger (8-1/2 by 11 inch) format. The cover was "upgraded to two colors (blue and red) with inside pages printed on thinner newsprint. subscription rates remained unchanged at $6 per year.
Lindstrom |
Lindstrom Back |
Among Sports Scoop's goals, Mitchell recently told Old Cardboard, was to serve as an advocate for worthy players for nomination to the baseball Hall of Fame. As part of that effort during its first year of publication, the magazine combined efforts with photograph seller and collector Jim Rowe to produce a 16-card "Hall of Fame Nominees" set. Fourteen of the cards, according to Mitchell, were of players who should have been in the HOF but were not at that time. Three of the former greats--Earl Averill, Johnny Mize and Fred Lindstrom--are each shown in three different poses in the set (one of the Lindstrom examples is shown at left).
Other players featured on one card each are Shoeless Joe Jackson, Barney McCosky, George "Tioga" Burns, Bob Johnson and Jacques Fournier. Two other players--Jeff Heath and Erl Torgeson (also veteran baseballers)--are featured in the set as National Co-Chairmen on the Earl Averill Hall of Fame Committee, which was directed by Sports Scoop publisher Eichmann.
The Sports Scoop "Hall of Fame Nominee" set is postcard-size (3-1/4 by 5-1/4 inches) and printed in black and white on thin card stock. The player's name is printed on the back along with references to set sponsors, Sports Scoop and Jim Rowe.
In addition to its HOF advocate role, the magazine ran dozens of in-depth articles ranging from N172 Old Judges to postcard sets to gum card sets to the 1947 Signal Gasoline issue and more. Editor Mitchell was able to enlist the support of a number of leading collectors and writers of the period including some names that are very recognizable to collectors today, nearly 40 years later. They included Don Steinbach, Ron Greenwood, Bill Haber, Mike Aronstein, Larry Fritsch, Richard Egan and a very young Keith Olbermann.
The magazine continued for two years with a run of 20 issues. It's last issue was distributed in October 1974 and featured an action photo of Earl Averill on its cover with the caption "Hall of Fame 1975?"
As the record shows, Averill was selected in January 1975 by the Veteran's Committee for enshrinement at Cooperstown--on the basis of his outstanding record and brought to light, at least in part by the efforts of collectors like those who supported Sports Scoop.
A Magazine Profile, Issues Checklist and Gallery of Covers for all issues of Sports Scoop have been added to the Old Cardboard website.
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