Like a brash rookie slugger who can't handle big-league curves, the National sports daily struck out last week. The flashy tabloid, owned by Mexican media mogul Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, never really connected with readers and advertisers, and it lost $100 million in just 17 months of publication. Its problems were compounded by "an economic climate that was getting worse and worse," said editor and publisher Frank Deford. Declaring WE HAD A BALL on its final front page, the first U.S. daily devoted entirely to sports printed its final edition last Thursday.
While it aimed for a circulation of 1 million by...