This just in from Jack Curry (Via Twitter):
“Nick Swisher has won the last man All Star vote over Youkilis. it was closest vote ever”
Congrats to Swish! This is his first All-Star Game selection of his career.
Update: 6:27PM ET: From Mark Newman of MLB.com
Swisher, the Yankees’ right-fielder and social-media titan, held off Kevin Youkilis of the rival Red Sox in the closest race in the nine-year history of the Final Vote to claim the 34th and final spot on the All-Star roster with a final tally of 9.8 million votes. Swisher and Youkilis were followed by Paul Konerko of the White Sox, Michael Young of the Rangers and Delmon Young of the Twins.
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Swisher had the all-time campaigning day in Final Vote history on Wednesday, par none. Using baseball’s most-followed Twitter account (1,220,890 followers) to his advantage, he sought out and got endorsements from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, actress Jessica Alba and “The Apprentice” co-star Ivanka Trump (among others). Then that night he was a triple shy of the cycle in leading the Yankees to a 6-2 victory over the Athletics.
On Thursday morning, it was announced that he held a narrow lead in a “virtual tie” with Youkilis. It didn’t take Swisher long to tweet another kick in the rear to voters. He typed: “We’re in the final stretch. Can’t thank yall enough for your support. Let’s finish strong!” And naturally he used the #SENDSWISH hashtag so that as many fans as possible could find his tweet, along with a link to the ballot.
M. B. Rozell
Kevin Rozell
Love it. Love it. Love it.
I’m still trying to figure out if Swisher is a “True Yankee” or just “much beloved by Yankee fans”.