The end of Street and Smith?

Apologize if I'm d_b'ing, but speculation on sportsdesigner.com is Street and Smith's may discontinue its magazines. What a tragedy if this is true.

For the record, these mags are now owned by the same company that does Sporting News' annual mags, so there's talk of a merger of some sorts. I'd take S&S mags with TSN content and merge the best of both publications, but I hope we don't see the end of the S&S name entirely.

 

I'm surprised those season previews that come out months in advance have lasted as long as they have with the Web and the desire for more current info. But I agree, Street & Smith's name means something.

 

The Street & Smith's name vs. TSN name on yearbooks is basically a coin flip. Given that TSN has products outside of the yearbook, it'd make sense to keep that name over S&S, assuming all of those TSN products will continue.

 

A coinflip on yearbook names? No way. Ask 10 sports fans what yearbook they remember buying as kids and I bet you many more than half say S&S. Who says TSN, aside from fantasy fans? I don't ever remember getting a TSN yearbook as a kid. S&S? Could not wait for it to be released.

And given the state of the publication, I'm not sure TSN having products outside of the yearbook should be the tiebreaker.

S&S, all the way.

 

I got this e-mail from my editor at The Sporting News in May. I'm not sure if posting it breaks a board rule or not, but the gist of it has already been discussed here, so I'm assuming it's OK. I'm also assuming someone will whack it if it's not kosher.

I don’t typically send out mass emails but wanted to make sure I touched base with everyone.

Thank you again for working with us on the college football yearbook this year. You should receive payment for your contribution no later than sometime in June — that’s the month in which the yearbook is budgeted.

Many of you have contributed to our CFB yearbook and other SN yearbook titles for years, and I wanted to let you know that we no longer will produce yearbooks in St. Louis. There still will be Sporting News yearbooks. The SN titles will replace the Street & Smith titles and be produced in Charlotte by the folks who currently do S&S. I have no idea if free-lance work will be available for those yearbooks going forward.

Thanks again for all of the great work.

J_D's editor at The Sporting News

 

That sucks. I enjoyed Street & Smiths much more than The Sporting News preview magazines. I think S&S had slipped some in the last few years. I think more people were picking up Athlons or Lindys instead.

 

I remember buying Street & Smith's baseball yearbook circa 1968-69 for starters and being blown away by all that information, which we now take for granted. It really was a trendsetter, and my cousins and I always got a kick (no pun intended) out of those Joe Weider and Charlie Atlas ads.

 

I remember buying Street and Smith's yearbooks as a kid. They always used the super-tight crops on mug shots, cropped just above the eyebrows and above the chin.

 

Correctomundo. Never bought TSN myself but ALWAYS bought Street & Smith growing up. TSN was for stat freaks or the 80s invention of fantasy sports. Street & Smith was for fans of the game and far superior.

Too bad they're shutting down. Gunna miss those.

 

I hope they keep doing this journal,

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/


I do believe it's the same Street and Smith

 

It is. Good people and good journalists.

 

When TSN Baseball first came along, it was much better than S & S. For one thing, the team previews were done by beat writers instead of the S & S method of having one guy write each league preview. Features were better, too, plus TSN had color pages.

I assume TSN's book went to hell after they dropped the correspondents. I haven't seen anyone's yearbook in a while.

I also brought S & S when I was a kid, mostly because the others were all kind of fly by night. Loved the Manny's Baseball Land ad, but never could afford those really cool flip-up sunglasses, just like the players wear.