• by March 10, 2006

Kids and baseball cards go together like bacon and eggs--or more appropriately, like Mantle and Maris. That's why a new program from Sports Illustrated for Kids and sports card marketer Topps Co. makes so much sense. It's called the "Topps S.I. For Kids Card Club," a multimedia program designed for young fans that combines elements in the monthly magazine with a new dedicated Web site. Content covers new cards and how to collect them, sports trivia and games, and inside gossip on favorite players.

Luce To Hall of Fame

Members of the Advertising Hall of Fame are always big names with impressive resumes. But one of this year's inductees is especially luminous, particularly in the magazine industry. Henry R. Luce, who in 1923 along with his friend Briton Hadden founded a small newsweekly that became Time magazine, is being inducted posthumously for creating many of the country's most enduring and respected publishing titles. Considering the success and influence of the company he founded, it seems safe to say the honor is overdue. Congratulations.

MPA Puts Blog Roundup Online

Not every magazine publishes a blog, but many do--and more are joining the party every day. To help readers locate their favorite magazine's blogs, the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) has launched an online roundup listing blogs from member magazine Web sites at www.magazine.org/blogroll. It will feature a collection of nearly 100 magazine blogs that, when updated, are posted automatically in the roundup. The list has been added to the "Digital" section of the MPA Web site at www.magazine.org/digital, and the trade group says more blogs will be added to the roundup on a regular basis.

NY Times Expands DealBook

The New York Times is extending its DealBook daily e-mail newsletter to its Web site. The new version will be a continually updated report on NYTimes.com covering Wall Street and corporate America. It will be edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the Times's chief mergers and acquisitions reporter, with contributions from the newspaper's business reporters. DealBook now includes three separate entities: the DealBook online report, the DealBook e-mail newsletter, and the DealBook Sunday newspaper column.

Sporting News Hooks Up with StubHub

Sporting News Co. and StubHub are going to make it easy for fans to get information and tickets at the same time. The two have joined forces in a deal in which StubHub, an online ticker vendor, becomes SportingNews.com's "exclusive ticket partner." The deal calls for the Web site to integrate StubHub links on its main page as well as individual team pages. The deal also includes endorsement and advertising agreements with StubHub for Sporting News Radio and Sporting News magazine.

Party Time in Texas for Blender

Working at a music magazine is tough duty. Not only do you have to attend all those concerts and hang with rock stars, but sometimes you have to even act as the host of fabulous parties at music festivals. That's what happening in Austin, Texas, where Blender magazine is the official music magazine sponsor of the 20th anniversary celebration of the SXSW Music Festival. As part of its duties, Blender will team with other sponsors to present a concert and will once again establish a social center with its Blender Bar and Balcony. Blender will also host an "appointment only" hospitality Suite from March 16th to March 18th in a Hilton suite to provide what it calls "the ultimate VIP treatment for SXSW's elite." The question is, how does one get invited?