Farewell as editor of SCD & new owners provide SCD a new beginning

By Bert Lehman

By the time you read this Leading Off column I will have moved on from the position of being editor of Sports Collectors Digest.

With that being said, I am sure a lot of questions are coming to your minds. I will try my best to answer those questions, as well as set your minds at ease.

As some of you are probably aware, F+W Media, the company that owned SCD, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March. The intent of the bankruptcy filing was to keep the company operating and eventually sell the company via auction.

That auction took place in mid-June, and the portion of F+W Media that contained SCD was purchased by Active Interest Media (AIM). 

Throughout this whole process, it was my intent to ride the sale process out to the end with the hope that SCD would be purchased by a company that would continue to publish the magazine. As it turns out, that is exactly what happened. Once the sale was finalized, I was offered the opportunity to stay on as editor of SCD,which I did accept. 

Throughout the entire bankruptcy process, though, I monitored the job market in my geographic area because of the uncertainty surrounding the bankruptcy proceedings. I didn’t actively pursue another job, but I did apply for a few in an effort to be proactive.

After the sale was finalized by the bankruptcy court, and after I had accepted the offer from AIM to continue on as editor of SCD, a job that I had applied for was offered to me.

After discussing the options with my wife, we decided the new opportunity being presented to me was too good to pass up, so the decision was made for me to leave as editor of SCD and to accept the new job that was offered to me. Without going into too many details, I am not only leaving SCD, but I am leaving the entire publishing industry. It was not an easy decision to make, but my new job will provide my family and I the most security for the future.

Even though I know it is the right decision to leave SCD, it is still difficult. Not a lot of people can say that they were able to make a living working in an industry that they first got involved in when they were a kid. But that’s exactly what I was able to do.

Who would have thought that when I purchased my first pack of baseball cards in the early 1980s that one day I would be covering the Hobby for one of the most respected collectibles publications available. I feel blessed and thankful to have had that opportunity.

I hope the readers of SCD enjoyed my ramblings in this Leading Off column the last two and half years. I will miss sharing my Hobby experiences with all of you in the future.

Moving forward, I have been told that AIM plans to continue publishing SCD, and a search is currently being conducted to find a new editor. While that search is taking place, Paul Kennedy will oversee SCD on an interim basis. He can be contacted at pkennedy@aimmedia.com.

Without this other job opportunity being presented to me, I would have been happy to continue on as the editor of SCD. I think AIM purchasing SCD will provide it, and the other F+W Media titles it purchased, with stability that is needed for future growth.

So, even though this is good bye from me, also consider it a new beginning for the magazine.

I wish you all nothing but the best in the future.

Bert Lehman is the editor of SCD.