Baseball Thrills #1 (1951) — cover-numbered #10 in Ziff-Davis's signature style — is the debut of a non-fiction sports comic that dramatized the real-life feats of major-league baseball stars. Rather than fictional heroes, the book brought to life the legends of the diamond: this first issue features Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Don Newcombe, and Lou Boudreau, with a striking painted cover and stories retelling famous games, careers, and clutch moments. (Later issues continued the formula — issue #3 included "The Clipper Bows Out: The Real Story of Joe DiMaggio.") The comic blended sports journalism, hero-worship, and comic-book drama for a young, baseball-mad postwar readership.

The title came from Ziff-Davis, the Chicago publisher whose short-lived comics line — overseen by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel — was known for its glossy painted covers. Documented contributors to the series include the celebrated portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler and writer Ed Silverman. As a marketing hook, star players like Feller and Musial were promoted as "editors," lending the book an air of authenticity that helped it stand out on crowded newsstands.

Today Baseball Thrills is a crossover collectible prized by both Golden Age comic collectors and baseball-memorabilia enthusiasts — issues featuring Hall-of-Famers command real interest. As a vivid record of how 1950s popular culture mythologized its sports heroes, the comic offers a charming, nostalgic window into the golden age of American baseball, told in four colors.