Texas Rangers Blog Celebrates Inaugural Year With Clinch

Online, September 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Texas Rangers baseball blog, Chicken Fried Baseball, launched in April of 2010. The blog was created by lifelong Ranger fan Dan Stokes to serve as a means to get coverage that he found to be somewhat hard to find in a sports media market that heavily emphasizes Dallas Cowboys football news. The Texas Rangers have not reached the playoffs since the internet really began to take off in the past decade. As a result, web coverage of the franchise has been limited. "When I started the blog, I didn't really know what to expect. I wasn't even sure I'd get any traffic.", said Mr. Stokes.

In fact, traffic was slow for the first two months of the blog's existence. That all changed around July. "I wrote an article about the team's 'claw and anlers' signs, and traffic took off.", Stokes continued. "I think the team's play, and casual fans' growing confidence in Texas' ability to reach the post-season was the tipping point."

The Texas Rangers have a unique method of celebrating, which includes on-field signs called "claw and antlers". The signs started as a means for players to recognize each other's accomplishments at the plate, or on the basepaths. A player will send out a "claw" signal after a positive hitting event, and "antlers" after a good play is made that involves speed.

The Rangers are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. The team recently took on new ownership, and fan interest is stronger than it has been in many years. Stokes said he plans to continue updating and adding content even after the postseason concludes. "As focused as I am on this fall, I think next season will bring even greater positive opportunities for the team and the bloggers who cover them".