As a child growing up, I was always a sports fanatic. Living in Canada, hockey was destined to be my primary sport of interest, but with the surging Toronto Blue Jays of the '80's on their way up, the Toronto Maple Leafs took a back seat to my love of baseball.

The hobby of sports card collecting brought me close to the game that I love and cherish. My only other choices to see the game up close in the late '80's were to either attend a game in the cheap left field seats at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto ($2 back then!), or wait for the "Game of the Week" to be broadcast on Saturday's.

Hence the beginning of the Bleacher Bum: the true fan that sits in the cheap seats and makes the most noise a fan can make without having stadium ushers frown upon him.

Even with techology advances like The Internet and 24-hour sports channels, card collectibles and jerseys remain the true way to bring fans "closer to the game".

The Birth of Bleacher Bum Collectibles...

During the early 90s, cell phones were becoming the "in-thing". Newer models were coming onto the market at a rapid pace. Now, being a connoisseur of new technology, I was intrigued by the rapid improvement of these cell phones. I was always interested in upgrading to the newer models, so I had to consistently figure out ways to sell my old phones.

In 2001, I was introduced to eBay by a friend of mine who used the site to successfully sell comic books. He gave my a quick tutorial on how to use eBay and in April 2001, I was successful in selling my 1st ever item on eBay - my 1st ever used cell phone.

Slowly I started to sell my odds and ends around the house, including posters, old sport jerseys, other electronic items and so on.

By October of that year, I started selling on eBay as a business owner, and since then I have opened an eBay Store, and the rest as they say is HISTORY.....