Paper Debuts in S.D.

The National sports newspaper began appearing on news racks in San Diego County on Monday.

The newspaper publishes a compendium of national sports news every day but Saturday, sells for 50 cents a copy and features a column on the San Diego sports scene called “My Town,” written by Steve Lowery. Lowery works out of the publication’s Los Angeles office.

Until Monday, the newspaper was sold only in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, claiming a circulation of about 200,000 copies daily, according to spokesman Stephen Hammond.

With Monday’s 48-page publication, which featured a cover story on San Diego Padres’ outfielder Tony Gwynn, the newspaper adds circulation in San Diego, Orange and South Los Angeles counties with an additional 50,000 copies, he said.

The National, which is sold at newsstands and in racks only, would not disclose the number of local racks or the precise number of copies published for San Diego distribution.

The newspaper expects to begin newsstand sales in San Francisco in July, in Dallas in August, in Detroit in September, in Boston in October and in Miami in November, Hammond said.