The magazine's (literal, not figurative) centerfold is a sheet of Topps baseball cards (yes, the Cleveland mascot was even more horrendous than the one most of us remember).

I mentioned Henry Luce had to argue sports was worthy of serious journalism. As if to counter the middlebrow naysayers, here's a feature on the painter George Bellows (who "excelled in baseball and basketball" at Ohio State and whose "Dempsey and Firpo" was already hanging at the Whitney in 1954).

"I have a split personality" womenswear, Florsheim's 1954 shoe collection and the Stetson "Railbird," the IBM Executive Electric Typewriter that "opens doors," and Burberry and Leica.

Now for some posts on the advertising. There are a lot of car and alcohol ads. Here are some of the latter — for Finger Lake "Champagne," Miller High Life (early version of the tagline: "It's the Champagne of Bottle Beer"), and apostrophe-ess Heineken's (next to a report on the Giants).

The issue features "ringside color pictures" of the heavyweight-title fight between Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles. I suspect this kind of dramatic color photography was among the things that made SI so popular with its early readers.

From the same games, hapless English marathoner James Henry Peters, who was beating his nearest competitor by more than 15 minutes but collapsed "only a few hundred yards to the official finish."

The whole issue is a wide-ranging and well-written delight. Here's a report from the 1954 Vancouver British Empire & Commonwealth Games, where the world's first four-minute milers — Englishman Roger Bannister and Australian John Michael Landy — raced against each other. Bannister won.

Henry Luce, who sits atop the masthead here, was told by Time Inc. executives that sports as a topic didn't merit a weekly wide-circulation glossy magazine. Luce disagreed, and the publisher's opening memo (pictured on the right) argues for SI's rightful place alongside Time, Life, and Fortune.

Kitchener?

Joking! Thank you for the reading/experience list. You also remind me I need to pick up Alfred Jarry, v.o.

I'm a fisherman and also thought it was way too small. Was just passing by with my bike and a beer, took a quick photo, and didn't press them on it. Maybe should have. In retrospect, I should have. It was a beautiful creature. RIP.

The couple who caught this shark told me they were going to make tacos with it. Alas. They wouldn't throw it back. I'm told dogfish is terrible on the plate, too.

“Mr. Hooper here thinks that isn’t your shark, chiefy. Bites not wide enough, he says, chiefy.”

I fail pretty badly at this. Nice knowing you!

And set list.

Set list.

Set list.