Check out Sports Illustrated's newest July issue, which hits newsstands Wednesday. The magazine is known for its beautiful, iconic images, and this time they've decided to give the new cover an Instagram makeover.

instasports.jpg

This series of shots was commissioned Sports Illustrated from contributing photographer Brand Mangin, who spent the past few months shooting with his iPhone 4S at spring training and major league ballparks in the West before posting the resulting photos to his own Instagram feed (@bmangin) as well as Sports Illustrated‘s (@SportsIllustrated).

The pics will appear in a six-page feature in the magazine’s Leading Off section (the first and second pages). This also marks the first time in the magazine's history that its printed images processed using Instagram.

Terry McDonell, editor of the Time Inc. Sports Group, explained to Mashable via email that putting some of those images in the physical magazine was a decision born out of social networking’s impact on media and journalism:
“This week’s Leading Off reflects the ‘socialization’ of photojournalism,”

“Great pictures, with intimate access to the MLB, shared with Instagram.”
We can't wait to see if other publications will hop on board this Instagram trends.