The Box Score as Boundary Object: How a Data Table Built the Sports-Media System

A boundary object is an item or idea or that solidifies relationships between stakeholders in a social system. A boundary object has local meaning within a single group and maintains relationships between actors. Using textual and secondary analysis, this paper argues that the formulation of the newspaper box score during the late 19th century created a boundary object that helped bring the sports media system into coherence. In its earliest days, the nascent sports reporting profession used data to define a professional identity and then enroll media organizations, sports organizations, and readers into what we understand as the sports media system. This understanding of the history of sports journalism has important implications for the study of the changing media system within sports and beyond.