Admittedly, I’ve been on a little bit of an All-Star game posting kick lately but I think we should talk a little about the “Final Vote” fan voting for the last player into the prestigious mid-summer classic. For those who don’t know, the Final Vote is an election for a deserving player who was not selected as a starter by the fans or a reserve by the manager to make the All-Star squad. Five players from each league are in the running and everyone, both pitchers and position players are eligible. Though it’s a mystery how the five players are selected for the vote, the system is still pretty cool because teams tend to rally around players on their club and mount sometimes massive campaigns to get their guys in. For instance, I’ve seen TV commercials, T-shirt giveaways, ballpark announcements, special promotions and more to help a player win the vote. This year, the Chicago White Sox are rallying behind first basemen Paul Konerko. Paul should consider himself lucky, Chicago really knows what they’re doing when it comes to the Final Vote, they’ve already gotten Scott Podsednik and AJ Pierzynski in in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
This year’s candidates in the AL are Konerko, Alex Gordon, Adam Jones, Victor Martinez, and Ben Zobrist. In the NL, the candidates are Todd Helton, Ian Kennedy, Andre Ethier, Shane Victorino, and Michael Morse. As of right now, Konerko leads in the AL and I have no idea who leads in the NL. Voting ends Thursday so give it a go and vote for somebody.
Also, I recently committed to trying to get Andrew McCutchen elected via the Final Vote. If he had been on the ballot, I would have gone all out to try to get him in. I don’t even think that it would have been that hard, he’s clearly incredibly deserving. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond me, McCutchen is not a member of the Final Vote pool. Thus, I am helpless. Sorry Andrew.
-Max Frankel
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