Baseball Blogger Raises $9K to Cover Spring Training

When the Washington Times eliminated its sports section at the end of 2009, former reporter Mark Zuckerman thought his readers still wanted a source for coverage of the Washington Nationals—and how. The now-baseball blogger raised more than $9,000 from readers eager to help him cover the cost of attending the Nationals' spring training camp. Zuckerman launched his campaign on Feb. 8, with a $5,000 goal. By the next day, he'd met and exceeded that figure.

"The response I've received over the last 16 hours has been both overwhelming and humbling," he writes on his blog, Nats Insider. Contributors will get some baseball bang for their buck. Zuckerman offers access to exclusive audio content based on donation level: $60 will get you audio recordings of one of the Nationals' daily media sessions and a player interview, and a chance to suggest questions. Zuckerman says the campaign was inspired by CNATI, another reader-funded sports blog covering the Cincinnati scene. (More baseball stories.)