As long as I can remember I've loved sports, and when professional baseball player didn't quite pan out as a career path (though I'm still holding out hope for a Jim Morris-type comeback), sports writing became the next best thing to being on the field.

I worked as a stringer at the Elgin Courier News of Sun-Times News Group from 2006-2012, covering anything and everything that falls under the scope of "high school sports". That meant everything from your standard basketball or football game to cross-country meets and volleyball matches, and everything in between.

While the local sports scene was fun, there is no question my dream job is covering Major League Baseball, and Bleacher Report has afforded me that opportunity.

I began writing for B/R not seeking employment of any sort, but simply looking for an outlet where I could hone my writing skills and get some feedback from the sports fan community.

In any event, I published my first article on April 29, 2009 back when the site was still finding its footing and I was thrilled to see my article be read by literally hundreds of people over the course of a few weeks.

In my four-plus years writing for the site, I've managed to work my way up from contributor, to Cubs Featured Columnist, to National MLB Featured Columnist, and now I'm in a position where I've turned writing for B/R from a hobby into a career.

I'm thankful for everything I've gotten so far out of my time here at B/R, and I look forward to watching the site continue to grow.

Now to brag about myself with a series of numbers and dates:

Surpassed 1 million reads on August 4th, 2011.
Surpassed 2 million reads on February 6th, 2012.
Surpassed 3 million reads on April 30th, 2012
Surpassed 4 million reads on June 17th, 2012
Surpassed 5 million reads on July 13th, 2012
Surpassed 6 million reads on August 13th, 2012
Surpassed 7 million reads on September 20th, 2012
Surpassed 8 million reads on December 3rd, 2012
Surpassed 9 million reads on February 8th, 2013
Surpassed 10 million reads on March 17th, 2013
Surpassed 11 million reads on April 9th, 2013
Surpassed 12 million reads on May 13th, 2013
Surpassed 12 million reads (again, reads glitch) on June 18th, 2013
Surpassed 13 million reads on July 15, 2013
Surpassed 14 million reads on August 5, 2013
Surpassed 15 million reads on September 19, 2013
Surpassed 16 million reads on November 4, 2013
Surpassed 17 million reads on November 30, 2013

7/12: First 1 million read month by an MLB writer
3/13: 1 million read month
7/13: 1 million read month
4/13: Featured Columnist of the Month

Follow me on Twitter: Follow @JoelReuterBR