It's a day that Ron Shandler had "always hoped for, but never expected" to happen.

The fantasy baseball guru, who operates an information empire in print and on the Web from the basement of his Roanoke County home, announced Thursday morning that he had sold Shandler Enterprises LLC.

New York-based Fantasy Sports Ventures paid an undisclosed sum for Shandler's company. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that it was a low seven-figure deal.

Shandler, who turned 50 in December, seemed to suggest it was an easy decision after two decades of building his company from the ground up.

"I got three formal offers last year -- how often does that happen?" he said in a Thursday afternoon phone interview. "It was too good of a situation to pass up."

Shandler signed a four-year deal with FSV to continue providing analysis on baseball statistics and trends that fantasy fans use to decide what players to buy, sell and trade in the strategy game that allows them to act as general managers.

The deal will allow him to back out of the day-to-day operations of running a business -- a process he expects to take the next year. Following that, he will be able to focus on the content.

The deal marks the continuation of consolidation in the multibillion-dollar fantasy sports industry, which attracts an estimated 15 million players each year.

FSV recently purchased KFFL.com and Hoopsworld.com, and already owned The Huddle.com, HoopsHype. com, BaseballCube.com, RotoNation.com, Baseball-Reference.com and BaseballMusings.com.

"BaseballHQ.com provides readers the best analysis and richest fantasy content on the Web," said FSV Chief Executive Officer Chris Russo, formerly the senior vice president of New Media at the NFL, in a news release.

It was with the first edition of the annual paperback book, "Baseball Forecaster," in 1986 that Shandler launched into the fantasy sports information industry.

A newsletter followed. Shandler worked with three writers at the time.

In 1996, he launched a Web site (BaseballHQ.com), which built a subscription base that topped the newsletter in just nine months. He now has more than 50 analysts writing for his service.

While some argue that information deserves to be free, Shandler said high-quality information takes creativity, time and effort to produce -- and is valuable.

A one-year subscription to his Web site costs $99 and includes his annual "Baseball Forecaster."

After growing up in New York City, Shandler moved to New Hampshire in the early 1980s and remained there until the weather got the better of him.

In 1993, he and his family began looking for a new home with a more desirable climate and a good school system. They moved to Roanoke County in January 1996. Shandler said he would remain in the area for at least three more years, until his daughters graduate from high school.