Newspapers and Radio
The history of modern sports journalism mirrors that of sport itself. The beginning of sport’s ascension
into the nation’s consciousness came during the 1920s, the so-called “Golden Age of Sport.” In the
years following World War I and before the Great Depression, several developments fueled America’s hunger
for sport. First, a booming post-war economy left Americans with money to spend; the rise of the automobile
as a viable form of transportation to new ballparks and stadiums gave them methods of spending. However,
sport’s popularity increased exponentially with the growing number of radio broadcasts. First introduced on
April 11, 1921 with KDKA’s broadcast of a boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray, sports
radio broadcasts gave people the opportunity to experience a live event without actually being there. Four
months later, the first baseball game was broadcast live from Pittsburgh, with the first college football game
following two months later (Patterson 12). As radio broadcasts became more popular, so did the sports they
featured.
In particular, baseball flourished. The game became America’s national pastime in the 1920s thanks
to three factors: radio broadcasts that increased its popularity, the emergence of Babe Ruth as a superstar
and celebrity, and the end of the Dead Ball Era, which made the game more entertaining. Due to its popularity,
baseball became the most-covered sport in the country.
Sportswriters in the 1920s wrote in a detailed, eloquent style that built athletes into folk heroes.
Their stories often sought to tell a grander story than merely what had transpired on the field. Sports writing
pioneers such as Grantland Rice excelled at capturing their readers’ attention and imagination with beautiful
prose; Rice is perhaps best known for part of his poem “Alumnus Football,” which reads, “For when the One
Great Scorer comes/ To write against your name/ He marks – not that you won or lost –/ But how you played
the game” (Rice). Writers such as Rice were responsible for furthering the idea of sport as something more
than competition; they instilled Americans with the idea that who won or lost was decided just as much by
honor, courage, and sportsmanship than the score, which set the foundation for sports and athletes to grow to
larger-than-life caricatures.