I don't know how it happened. Or why they did it. But a week ago today, Sports Illustrated began providing the greatest tool in sports journalism - unyielding access to its archives. That's 54 years of stories and photos that changed the way sports is covered. It's amazing to consider you can read every word that's ever been published in SI since it first issue on Aug. 16, 1954, until you remember that SI isn't the first to take this route. The New York Times a while began allowing complete access to its archives, which leads to looking up things like the first report of Lincoln's assassination:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C00E0D91F30EE34BC4D52DFB266838E679FDE
What makes me wonder - and all the more grateful - is SI allows this entrance into history for free. Sure, it's going to raise their Internet traffic, but according to the following NY Times business article, it won't necessarily generate a whole lot of money.
"Industry executives say that although old articles attract less interest from advertisers than current ones, any increase matters at a time when many newspapers and magazines are struggling to hold onto print ad revenue."
But hey, who cares when you get to read about the greatest baseball player who never lived, Sidd Finch. See the story by the great George Plimpton: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119283/index.htm
SI Vault: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
NY Times business article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/business/media/17mags.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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