First In Our Hearts

As a hall of famer and one of only 16 players to hit 500 home runs, Eddie Mathews has a secure place in baseball history. But Mathews, who died on Sunday of complications from pneumonia at 69, also holds a special place in SI's history—as the athlete featured on the cover of our first issue, dated Aug. 16, 1954.

At the time Mathews was one of baseball's most promising young sluggers, but his prowess was incidental to his being on the cover. Sid James, SI's first managing editor, wanted to run a red-blooded sports photograph on that first issue, in contrast to some of the effete cover subjects—like dogs and sailboats—that were to follow. Since the issue was to appear during the summer, baseball was a natural. In those days color pages had to be prepared six weeks in advance, however, which is how photographer Mark Kauffman ended up shooting a Braves-Giants series at County Stadium in early June. No story in that first issue accompanied the cover shot, only a short box on the contents page that identified Mathews and declared the scene "baseball's classic home plate tableau."

The selection of Mathews for our inaugural cover was, in retrospect, fortuitous, for he embodied many traits we would come to celebrate: poise, teamwork, durability, all-around excellence. Mathews went on to hit 40 home runs in 1954, and together with his more celebrated teammate, Hank Aaron, formed the one-two punch that led the Braves to a World Series tide in '57 and a National League pennant in '58. Mathews ended his career with 512 homers and was elected to the Hall of Fame in '78. "It's funny," he told SI in 1999. "When that picture was taken, I didn't think of it—or myself—as anything special. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and me, we were nuthins."