MLB Fans Flock To Internet In Sprint Final Vote For All-Star Game

July 9, 2009: Fans cast a record 68.6 million votes online - an increase of 43.5% from the mark of 47.8 million set last year - in the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote and selected Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge to fill the last All-Star Game roster spots for the National and American Leagues, respectively. Voting was conducted exclusively on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual club sites. Victorino received 15.6 million votes, the most ever for one player, surpassing Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria's then record nine million in 2008. Inge received 11.8 million votes, also breaking Longoria's record, Since its inception in 2002, the All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote has recorded nearly 200 million votes, according to MLB.

Victorino and Inge were among 10 players, five from each league, named by All-Star managers Charlie Manuel (Phillies) and Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay) as candidates for the Sprint Final Vote. Victorino was followed in the voting by Pablo Sandoval (San Francisco Giants), Mark Reynolds (Arizona Diamondbacks), Matt Kemp (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Cristian Guzman (Washington Nationals). In the American League, Inge was followed in the voting by Ian Kinsler (Texas Rangers), Chone Figgins (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), Carlos Pena (Tampa Bay) and Adam Lind (Toronto Blue Jays). The voting began on July 5 at 2 PM (EDT) and ended July 9 at 4 PM (EDT). The game will be played on July 14 in St. Louis, and televised on Fox.

Previous winners of the All-Star Sprint Game Final Vote are: Evan Longoria (AL, 2008), Corey Hart (NL, 2008), Hideki Okajima (AL, 2007), Chris Young (NL, 2007), A.J. Pierzynski (AL, 2006), Nomar Garciaparra (NL, 2006), Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005), Roy Oswalt (NL, 2005), Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004), Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004), Jason Varitek (AL, 2003), Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003), Johnny Damon (AL, 2002 and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

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