On Saturday, March 28, the cry of “Play Ball” will resound across the United States. All thirty Major League Baseball teams will be playing that day, including PulpFest’s hometown Pittsburgh Pirates (who will be playing the Mets in New York). The ultimate goal for every team playing on Saturday is to win the 2026 World Series. Let’s go, Bucs!
Pittsburgh happens to be a city of champions. One of the last professional sports teams to capture a national championship for two years running happens to be the city’s National Hockey League affiliate, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team brought home hockey’s Stanley Cup to Pennsylvania’s Steel City in both 2016 and 2017.
Back in the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Steelers were back-to-back Super Bowl champions not once, but twice. Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates have never managed the feat, although they have won the World Series five times since joining the National League in 1887.
With all the winning going on in Pittsburgh, why not sign on with another of the city’s winners — PulpFest? You can join the winning team by becoming a PulpFest sponsor.
Your link and logo will appear on our homepage for an annual website sponsorship of $120. Six-month sponsorships are also available.
Or perhaps you’d like to sponsor the convention’s welcome banner, proudly displayed at the main entrance of each year’s convention. Your company’s name will be displayed at the top of our 2026 banner, welcoming visitors to PulpFest. Another alternative is to sponsor our membership badges. Your name or logo will appear on every badge, acknowledging your contribution.
We also welcome support for the annual PulpFest Pizza Party. Contributors of $20 or more will have their names posted near the serving area in the Ember & Vine lounge at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry.
Other opportunities to contribute financially to PulpFest include advertising in our annual program book, The Pulpster, or donating free giveaways or door prizes.
All of our sponsors, both large and small, will be thanked via several posts that will run on our homepage and social media sites.
Join the winning PulpFest team! If you or your organization want to discuss a PulpFest sponsorship or advertising opportunities, don’t hesitate to get in touch with marketing and programming director Mike Chomko at mike@pulpfest.com or write to 2217 W Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542.
You are probably wondering why an excerpt from J. Allen St. John’s cover art for the October 1940 number of Fantastic Adventures, illustrating J. W. Pelkie’s “King of the Dinosaurs,” is the featured image for a post concerning sports and baseball. Actually written by Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories editor Ray Palmer, hiding behind a pseudonym, “King of the Dinosaurs” concerns intelligent dinosaurs who play baseball. They even argue with the umpire!
Our lead image is Norman Saunders’ cover for the late Summer 1951 issue of Baseball Thrills, a short-lived comic book published by Ziff-Davis. Lasting for three issues released during the summers of 1951 and 1952, the series featured biographical stories of major league baseball stars. Gene Colan, Mario DeMarco, Everett Kinstler, Wally Littman, Bob Powell, Bernard Sachs, and Mike Sekowsky are some of the artists who contributed to the comic.
Ziff-Davis, best remembered in pulp circles as the publisher of Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures, entered the comic book field in 1951. The company published crime, horror, romance, science fiction, sports, war, and Western comics. Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was the art director of their comic book line.
Publishing a bit more than 200 issues of nearly 60 comic book titles, Ziff-Davis largely abandoned the field in 1953. G.I. Joe was, by far, their longest-lived title, running for 51 issues and lasting until 1957.
Other longer-lived Ziff-Davis titles included Amazing Adventures, Cinderella Love, Crime Clinic, Famous Stars, Kid Cowboy, Perfect Love, Romantic Marriage, Weird Thrillers, and Wild Boy. Of these, only Cinderella Love and Kid Cowboy reached double digits. Most of their 58 different titles did not last more than a few issues.
Our final image is the second issue of Amazing Adventures, one of six issues of the Ziff-Davis science fiction comic book. The cover art is by pulp artist Allen Anderson, best remembered for his work on Culture Publications’ line of “Spicy” pulps and the Fiction House line of pulp magazines, particularly Planet Stories and Lariat. Other artists who contributed covers to the title included Robert Gibson Jones, Norman Saunders, and possibly, Bernie Krigstein.
Derek Starr is a writer and popular culture enthusiast who began contributing to our website in 2022. He particularly enjoys the Fiction House pulps. One of his favorites is Planet Stories, the publisher’s legendary science fiction pulp. He’s also a fan of their air pulps and Action Stories. Being a longtime baseball fan, Derek has a soft spot for sports pulps.
