According to legend, the athletes appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated go on to experience bad luck. SI’s first cover subject, baseball player Eddie Mathews, was also the first victim of the jinx, suffering a hand injury one week later that forced him to miss seven games.
Over the years, the jinx has produced losses (the 1987 baseball preview featured the Indians with the declaration ‘Believe it! Cleveland is the best team in the American League’ only for the team to lose 101 games and finish dead last), injuries (golfer Jim Venturi was named 1964’s Sportsman of the Year then spent the next season battling carpal tunnel syndrome) and even death (Pat O’Connor, pictured on the 1958 Indianapolis 500 preview issue, was killed in a fifteen car pile-up on the last lap).
On the other hand, Michael Jordan appeared on the cover a record 49 times and made it through with life and limb intact. Sports Illustrated did their own analysis of the phenomenon for a 2002 issue and concluded that 37% of their cover subjects suffered a demonstrable misfortune or decline in performance following their appearance.
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