During most of the twentieth century, newspapers were king. They were the primary source for accurate, accountable reporting of the news. Many larger cities had more than one newspaper to choose from and there were some places that had both morning and evening editions.

  The New York Post, founded by Alexander Hamilton, was published in the afternoon, primarily for the masses of commuters who left New York City at the end of the workday. The paper was very popular because it contained all the closing stock market prices.

  But there was a very special treat on days that the Yankees played a home day game. The Post had complete coverage of the game as well as photos. The other N.Y. papers didn’t have this until the next day. This was long before digital photos, computers and the internet.

  How did the Post do it? Low-tech homing pigeons. A reporter was stationed in the press box phoning in the story, inning by inning. The photographer took pictures only during the first inning or two and hopefully there was some exciting action to shoot. He then took his unprocessed film to the roof of Yankee Stadium and attached it

to the leg of a homing pigeon. The pigeon was released and started its journey home to the Post building on South Street in Manhattan, a distance of over 12 miles of snarling city traffic.  The pigeon landed in its cage on the roof and the film was rush processed in their black and white darkroom.  The pictures and story were composed, printed, and commuters were amazed at seeing, say, Mickey Mantle hitting a home run in that day’s game.

  This was an ingenious effort by the newspaper in an era when life moved at a much slower pace.