Fifteen Years of Stale Gum

The year was 1998. 

Crackheads roamed the streets.

Roided-up monsters were taking over baseball. 

And The Hobby Media, compared to where it is today, was in the toilet. 

That year a certain "Baseball Card Monthly" magazine crowned a company that would be out of business by the end of the summer, its inaugural (and only) "Company of the Year."  The news was met with a mixture of amusement and outrage on the nascent internet card collecting community.

In September, a card collector serving his country in the Armed Forces was fed up. He realized that in the traditional Hobby Media, an important voice was not being heard. 

The voice of the collector.

And so one day, he got drunk -- as he usually did -- and came up with the crazy idea to start a newsletter, written from the point of view of an actual baseball card collector, for his fellow baseball card collectors.

Over time, the newsletter (which thankfully has been lost to history) evolved into a webzine, blog, and now Twitter handle.

The Hobby has changed into something none of us would have recognized in 1998.  Certainly, the Stale Gum Media Empire has changed into something I wouldn't have recognized in 1998.  But there's one thing that will never change. 

I will continue to give you my unbiased, snarky, honest-to-God, takes on baseball cards, without fear or apology. 

I thank you for your continued support.