Jeff Pearlman has become a New York Times bestselling author and one of the industry’s most celebrated sportswriters. Although his career began at Sports Illustrated, his talent for uncovering and sharing deeply personal sports stories has stood the test of time.
Although the magazine’s influence has waned, Pearlman remains a leading voice in the field and has started a new chapter by sharing candid stories from his career on TikTok. And Pearlman’s recent appearance showed what working at SI was like two decades ago.
@jeffpearlmanauthor This is what it was like to be a writer for Sports Illustrated in the heyday of print media. (In a word: awesome!) #sportsillustrated #writersoftiktok #journalism #tomverducci #rickreilly #steverushin #magazine
♬ Original sound – Jeff Pearlman
“From 1996 to about 2003, I worked for Sports Illustrated,” Pearlman began, “and working for Sports Illustrated was the best job in media at the time. First of all, it was my dream job, and when I got hired, I called my mom and cried because I had actually told her in high school that I would work for SI one day. So it was a dream come true… and when you’re a baseball writer for Sports Illustrated, which I became, when you’re single and in your 20s, it’s ridiculous.
“The rule was you could stay in any hotel as long as it was under $400 a night, which was a lot of money then and still is quite a lot. No. 2, Spring Training, just as an example: You rented a car, drove to Florida, and traveled from one training center to the next. You traveled from team to team. One day you’d face the Phillies and the next day you’d face the Pirates. And you’d drive around, and I always rented a convertible, and they never minded.
“So, I was driving around Florida in February while my friends were freezing their asses off in New York. And you just drive around and say you want to do a story on, I don’t know, Scott Rolen? You go to the Phillies training camp and call the team. They would be happy that Sports Illustrated wants to do a story. Scott Rolen in general would be happy that SI wants to do a story. They’d say, ‘Do you want to have breakfast with him?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ You go to a cafe with Scott Rolen, have breakfast, and talk about life as a baseball player.
“Sports Illustrated was the king of the league, and if you worked there — I didn’t do anything for it, I worked hard — you were king in a way. And as soon as the season started, I did this column called ‘Inside Baseball,’ and actually me and another guy, Steve Cannella, did it together. We went to two or three places every week. It would be like, ‘Okay, go to Chicago on Monday and talk to Kerry Wood. And on Wednesday we need you in LA to talk to Shawn Green. And then, you know what? On Friday, since you’re on the West Coast, go to San Francisco and do something on Jeff Kent.'”
Pearlman painted a picture of unprecedented access, generous perks and the exhilarating thrill of being a young journalist at the top of the industry.
“And you flew to all these places and stayed in really cool hotels,” Pearlman continued. “And you showed up and it was like, ‘Ooh, Sports Illustrated is in town.’ That meant something. And then you wrote something and it appeared in your favorite magazine; three million people read it. And it was huge and you just felt like the absolute douchebag. You just did. It was so exciting to write for SI.
“I have to say, SI was rolling in money – rolling in money. If you were in the office, you had to work late on Sundays. It’s like if you were a fact-checker, a reporter or an editor and they cooked you a six-course meal. They had limos that took everyone home at night. So if you were down on a Sunday night, you got a ticket – it was all paid for – and there was a limo waiting for you down in front of the Time Warner building to take you where you needed to go.
“It was so crazy… It’s crazy how much money they had, how successful they were, how great it was to work for Sports Illustrated. Another cool thing was that every now and then you’d see a random sports person in the office. I remember Elton Brand being there. Funny enough, I remember former (Seattle) Mariners pitcher Steve Trout showing up there. People loved Sports Illustrated – they just did; it meant the world. And I was there right when the last great era of print started… and you were a king. I was young and cocky and loved it and devoured it, and I’ve never forgotten the joy.”
(Jeff Pearlman)
