Back in June 2005, I worked at a search engine marketing company in Chicago. It was about the coolest job a kid fresh out of college could hope to have. I remember being impressed that it was normal to be on the Internet all day at work, and that people communicated with each other using AOL Instant Messenger. I had been at the company for about a year and it was a fun and interesting job. I became friends with a consultant named Jeff, and naturally we chatted about baseball. I had a lot of ideas, and he suggested I start a blog. I barely knew what that was, but he had one.
So I fired up a free blog using Blogger. The next day, I registered my own domain, rotoauthority.com, and soon moved to a more serious platform, TypePad. RotoAuthority would be where I would write a bunch of fantasy baseball posts. I was all over the forums promoting my blog, and I remember my future wife waiting patiently as I chalked the name of it all over the quad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when we visited our alma mater. I also had the novel idea of mailing out packages of Big League Chew to baseball reporters I liked, to get RotoAuthority on their radar. I sent out a bunch of them, to Peter Gammons, Jerry Crasnick, Rob Neyer, and the like. Years later, Rob told me he chewed the gum immediately.
I mentioned to Jeff that I was thinking about naming my new company The Roto Authority, and he told me I should think bigger, I may want to start a second site at some point. The 2005 MLB season was over, and I found myself writing a bunch of stuff on RotoAuthority that had only a loose connection to fantasy baseball, including my first-ever Top 50 Free Agents list.
I still thought RotoAuthority was my meal ticket to becoming self-employed, as I used it as a vehicle to sell self-created projection spreadsheets for $9.99. I was also making a few bucks writing the Waiver Wired column for RotoWorld. Nonetheless, I was drawn to all the rumors and deals of the 2005-06 MLB offseason, and wanted to write about Bobby Abreu, Billy Wagner, and Juan Pierre without the constraints of fantasy baseball. So, so many posts about Juan Pierre. So, ten years ago on this date, I registered a new site, mlbtraderumors.com, and wrote this post about the Yankees potentially pursuing Torii Hunter. The site’s design looked like this. Raise your hand if you remember it!
MLB Trade Rumors quickly passed up RotoAuthority in traffic, and started to take up more of my time. During busy times like the July trade deadline or the Winter Meetings, our posts went viral in an old school way, with links on forums and perhaps carrier pigeons. It certainly wasn’t succeeding because of my journalistic integrity. In the early years of MLBTR I was completely naive about the hard work and years of trust-building that goes into getting most baseball scoops. So, if someone emailed about having the same barber as Octavio Dotel and therefore knowing where he might sign, I believed it and printed it.
A major turning point came during the 2007 Winter Meetings. Someone pretended to be a Mets beat reporter (one I knew of but had not interacted with) and sent me a whopper of a trade rumor. He was happy to let me write an exclusive post on MLBTR about the potential three-team deal sending Johan Santana and Bobby Crosby to the Mets, Jose Reyes and Kevin Mulvey to the A’s, and Dan Haren to the Twins. I was not present at those Winter Meetings, but this bogus rumor spread like wildfire after I posted it, and of course was shot down.
Shot down is an understatement, actually. Here are the choice quotes from A’s GM Billy Beane:
“There’s a better chance of me breeding unicorns than there is of that deal happening.” – ESPN
“It’s ridiculous. All-time most ridiculous. Of all the trade rumors the whole time I’ve been coming here, because of the genesis and how quickly it went around, that was the finest, or the worst, whatever you like.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“I’m on the bike, and (Zaidi) is on the treadmill, and he figures out a way to get on the Internet, and he says, ’Hey look at this.’ Of all the trade rumors in all my career, that one’s the furthest from the truth.” – Contra Costa Times
I was mortified at what I’d done and that it was on Beane’s radar to that degree. I finally realized that I had to take sourcing much more seriously, and also stop worrying about trying to break stories.
Soon after, I quit my job to focus on MLBTR full-time. A parade of great writers and friends joined me on our team and helped make the site better each year. The core of what we do hasn’t really changed since 2008. We collect, organize, and analyze everything related to MLB transactions in a timely manner, filtering out anything lacking in credibility. The format and means of sharing the information have changed, but the idea remains the same.
Thank you for indulging my trip down memory lane. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to run MLBTR for a living, and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon. I would like to express my gratitude to our many contributors over the years, and to the journalists on the beat. And of course, thanks to our readers, whether you were here for the black background days or you just discovered the site this week. Here’s to the next ten years!
Congrats!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MLBTR
I discovered the black background when I was a freshman in high school, and have been a daily reader ever since. Congrats Tim and staff!
I’ve been checking this site out for around 8 years. I am local in Lombard and check your site at least twice a day. Keep up the great work!
Great memories…great website!
Thanks for helping kill my work productivity since 2005! You guys rule!
Congrats! Living the dream Tim. I remember the black and white.
Great story!
I have been an avid reader and poster for a couple years. Your site is one of the half dozen or so I check out on a daily basis. Keep up the good work!
This is awesome! Congrats. I still remember back in the day when you’d be in the comments arguing and, to be honest, a bit of a Cubs homer.
I doubt even you imagined turning MLBTR into what it is today. You have one if the most impressive writing teams of any site I frequent. It’s truly remarkable and you should be proud! Here’s to another ten years!
Congrats on all the success, Tim and co. MLBTR, has been a part of my daily internetting for many years now! Keep up the great work.
Happy birthday MLBTR! Been a reader since a friend linked me back in early 2009, and been commenting since sometime in the middle of 2010. I love how big you all have made this, Tim 😀
Tim…I want to thank you for this daily must-see site. I remember when it first went up, too. It has been a great 10 years.
Wow, 10 years already? Congrats & Happy Birthday!!! Many more!! I am a frequent user of MLBTR…
Would love to see you expand to National Hockey LEague tumors
Breaking News: The Stars have been diagnosed with throat cancer, see more on NHL Tumors.
Rumors
Although I didn’t start in the early, early days, I remember the white on black layout well. Back then things were very Chicago centric (primarily Cubs). Maybe not so from a coverage aspect but definitely from a viewership. So happy that the site has expanded and readers from every team come here for information.
The quality of your work Tim and team is top notch. I see the site quoted frequently on most other baseball sites. You certainly have come a long way.
I found this site about 9 years ago. I’ve been glued to it ever since. congrats on 10 years and to many more.
Thanks so much for making my days so interesting over the years. Many (50) years ago I remember having to have a subscription to The Sporting News to get even a fraction of the kind of information here. Keep up the wonderful work!
Thanks for making it so easy to follow baseball year round! MLBTR has become one of my daily routines now.
It has been a pleasure to work on a couple of projects with you guys… and (perhaps just as importantly for me) to go on to your site every July 31st afternoon (a tradition!) and all throughout the year. There is something about MLBTR that is addicting and fun. Almost as fun as actually watching my Tigers live. Thank You!
Congratulations!
9 year reader here, rarely a day goes by that I don’t check in. Thanks and happy birthday!
My favorite thing I’ve ever seen on this website is the comment section of the post when the Tigers signed Prince Fielder. Everyone was completely dumbfounded and it led to the funniest string of baseball jokes I’ve ever seen.
Tim, MLBTraderumors has become one of my Top 5 sites (all genres) and I visit several times a day. Congrats to you and the team as your status in the industry grows and grows. I enjoyed reading MLBTR backstory. I bookmarked you in 06- and of all the headlines over the years, the biggest jaw dropper was “Nationals acquire Jayson Werth for 7 years, 126 million”. You guys help me get through the off season, so my request is more chats, and mailbag posts. Otherwise, keep up the great work!
Congrats on being successful doing what you love. I found MLBTR in about 2007 and have checked it at least twice a day, sometimes a dozen times, every day since. I even check the site more than my local blog spot for my Orioles. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found a site devoted to baseball with short stories, updates, and rumors for every single team. One of those oh my god why didn’t i think of that moments. You guys do a great job day in and day out and that’s why even in the offseason I still rarely miss a post. I hope one day I can even contribute, I can’t imagine anything better than writing about baseball every day!.
Have been following this site for as long as I can remember. Tim – – You’re a class act all the way, super professional, and real boon to us baseball nerds. Thanks for everything all along the way!
Congratulations Tim & thanks for the flashback.
I’ve been reading for ten years now, considering back than baseball trade rumors were something you would have to search long and hard for throughout the sports pages. The obvious domain name caught my eye and I’m happy to say I’ve been a daily visitor for ten years straight. I am still jealous to this day that you, Tim, have in fact the greatest job in the world. Congrats!
Woohoo, congrats! And thanks for all the rumors.
I’m only 17 but I remember my dad showing me the site when I was 12 and when I got my first iPod touch I downloaded it and have been reading ever since. No other website compares!
Wow! I’ve been following this site everyday since 2007 and remember going on flower delivery routes with my dad talking endlessly about Santana. I remember all the crazy rumors that were going around. We were Red Sox fans and both really wanted him. I remember saying that I didn’t care if they traded Lester, just not Bucholz.
Congratulations to all the team behinds MLB Trade rumors. This site has become the obligatory visit at least twice a day to be up to date of what happens around the league. So keep going far to give us, as always, the latest hot news just coming out of the stove.
I’ve been reading MLBTR about as long as there’s been an MLBTR, and in the last couple years it’s become pretty much the only place where I get my baseball news anymore.
Happy 10th! So many well deserved comments from loyal fans. MLBTR is the best for reliable “rumors” and essential background stats/info. Thanks, Tim and all.