RIP: The most memorable ESPN the Magazine covers

We’re going to fold every “Body Issue” cover into one entry. If you’ve heard about ESPN the Magazine at all in recent years, it’s because of this issue, which became its primary selling point. Sure, there was some bit of prurient interest for many sports fans getting a chance to see famous athletes nude. However, it was also a rare look at the body of a professional athlete, with all the muscles and battle damage incumbent in that.

ESPN the Magazine began life in early 1998 with a look at some of the young, promising athletes of the era. If you want to feel old, Kobe Bryant and Eric Lindros were both on the cover. Lindros is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame and has been since 2016.

The rise of the NFL coincided with the early days of ESPN's magazine offer. To think that on this cover was a question many were asking at the time: Who will be the better NFL quarterback, Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf?

Some covers are quirky and some are artistic, while some are simple. This is one of the simple ones. A retiring Michael Jordan celebrating some on-court glory leaps, his arms extended. That's all we needed to see.

This is maybe the most famous of the "ESPN the Magazine" covers. After Mike Ditka traded his entire cadre of draft picks away to select Ricky Williams, the two appeared on the cover together. For the whole "for better or worse" motif, Williams wore a wedding dress. Take that, Dennis Rodman!

When Keyshawn Johnson, a first-overall pick, was still a young player he wrote a memoir called "Just Give Me the Damn Ball!" It created a lot of controversy at the time. This cover is a riff on that. Now, it's been forgotten to history a bit, but at the time it was a notable cover.

Oh, the promise of what could have been. This is a fun cover as is. A couple of young NBA players, fresh out of high school, frolicking in the water. That's memorable enough as is. Then you remember that the players on the cover were Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. Sometimes the misses are memorable too.

You know who was drafted ahead of Ricky Williams? That would be Edgerrin James, aka Edge. He had a distinct look, and it was on display in the magazine's 2000 preview of the NFL. A star player with gold teeth? It was a notable thing at the time.

For years, ESPN would put out the "Next" issue, which talked about young, promising athletes who it thought would be the next big thing. It wasn't always right, but this is one it knocked out of the park. Vince Carter would indeed become a superstar. Also, as he's still in the NBA, he's outlasted the magazine.

With all due respect to Steve Francis, he's not the reason this cover is memorable. It's all about Destiny's Child, namely Beyonce. Before she was one of the biggest stars in the world, Beyonce and her fellow bandmates, Houston natives themselves, showed up on a magazine cover.

This is a simple, but evocative cover. That's partially the power of Allen Iverson, who made things memorable just with his presence at the time. Of course, Notorious MVP is a riff on Notorious B.I.G, fitting for a league often synonymous with hip-hop.

In 2002 soccer was still an underground sport in the United States. The Premier League wasn't readily watchable. Christian Pulisic was but a child. However, ESPN the Magazine gave the U.S. team a little shine heading into the World Cup. Look how young Landon Donovan was. By the way, the 2002 U.S. team went all the way to the quarterfinals. Nice call on the cover!

This is not a fun cover. It doesn't even have an athlete on it. However, this is the first cover for an ESPN the Magazine issue published after 9/11. The sports world played a big part in how the country coped with that tragic event. ESPN had its role as well.

This is just a really fun cover. The artwork is delightful, as it really feels like it's from a '90s kid show or something. Then there's Yao Ming, at the time an unknown quantity. Look at him there, sleeping with his foot firmly on the ground. It's just a cool cover.

Barry Bonds clearly didn't want to actually pose for a magazine cover. He was never media friendly. On the other hand, there's Helio Castroneves, then a massively successful race car driver. He's...dressed like "The Mask"? It's really bizarre, and the context is lost to history. The image is certainly a lasting one, though.

John Amaechi was a solid, unremarkable player on the NBA court. However, he was able to make a huge impact off the court after he retired. Amaechi came out as gay in an issue of ESPN the Magazine. The cover is simple — mostly text from the beginning of the story — but it still made a major impact.

College football often has a fun, laid-back vibe to it. Around the turn of the last decade, no school embodied that more than USC. Not only were the Trojans a great team, but they also had Pete Carroll and all his enthusiasm as coach. Reggie Bush carrying Matt Leinart on his shoulders is right on the money for capturing the feel of that time. Of course, the Trojans would famously lose to Texas in the Rose Bowl that season.

Talk about meta! Obviously, there wasn't an actual magazine issue with "Leinart Plummets In The Draft" on the cover. This issue was about athletes actually handling the writing and content, though. To exemplify that, Leinart was on the cover, ripping up an issue that also was featuring him on the cover.

We didn't want to put too many "Next" covers on here, but we had to have one more. After all, this was LeBron James' first "ESPN the Magazine" cover. He would have many more, but it all started here. This was a pretty easy call for a "Next" issue, to be fair.

Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby became the faces of the NHL when they were drafted. However, Ovechkin always had more personality. Hockey never got much love from ESPN, at least after the network stopped showing it, but the sport was still featured on a few covers. This is the most memorable of the bunch, thanks largley to Ovi.

This cover is almost a replication of the Michael Jordan one. Derek Jeter was not the Michael Jordan of baseball, but he was a legend, and he played his entire career in New York. Whether or not you felt like he was overrated, the simplicity of this cover works.

Boston sports have had a lot of success over the last decade-plus. ESPN the Magazine couldn't deny that fact and showcased it on the cover here. The design is cool, even if you are annoyed by all of Boston's success. By the way, this was apparently the best-selling cover in the magazine's history. Boston fans love their teams.

This is one of the artsier covers the magazine ever did. That makes it stand out, and also fortunately the image is striking. Sometimes, all you need is black and white and an image that grabs you. This is a powerful cover that isn't showy.

Tom Brady has been in the NFL forever. He says he wants to play until he's 50. Taking this into account, ESPN the Magazine decided to use some technology to show us what Brady might look like in the future. Seeing the middle-aged visage of a sporting legend will really take you back, especially when it's staring at you from a magazine cover.

This is where it ends. We like this cover as is, with Baker Mayfield walking a bunch of dogs. However, the fact that this is one of the final covers the magazine ever had makes it momentous. "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."