Much has been made of late surrounding the Royals' domination of the AL All-Star vote, but with just under two weeks remaining, rival clubs refuse to back down and are launching an all-out push for their own deserving players. Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera, Astros 2B Jose Altuve and Mariners DH Nelson Cruz as of Monday’s tally were all within 600,000 votes of first place at their respective positions, and their respective teams are using a wide variety of strategies to vault them past Royals players.
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Fans at Safeco Field will be reminded to vote for
Cruz every time he makes a great play |
CHANGE IN PLANS: MLB this season for the first time got rid of paper ballots, and teams have had to come up with new ideas to take advantage of fans coming to the ballpark. Tigers VP/Marketing Ellen Hill Zeringue said the “whole strategy has changed." Zeringue: “The pressure is now on the teams to be creative as possible. There’s an increase of everything -- if last year we ordered 5,000 T-shirts, this year it’s 10,000 -- because now we have to be the catalyst in creating an in-ballpark presence that used to be there with the paper ballots.” The Mariners have been sending staff members through the concourses with iPads encouraging fans to vote. In addition, the club this week at Safeco Field has begun to post reminders of Cruz’ merit on the videoboard each time he makes a highlight-worthy play and through PA announcements before and during the games. Mariners Senior Dir of Marketing Gregg Greene said of trying to pass the Royals, “It’s been a fun battle so far, but the game’s not over."
YOU CAN'T MISS IT: The Mariners, Astros and Tigers also have on-going social media contests in which fans who vote the maximum-allotted 35 times become eligible to win prizes. The Astros for next Saturday’s game against the Yankees will produce 10,000 T-shirts for the cause, with fans voting for their favorite designs leading up to the game. The team also has two yet-to-be-announced tactics that will be launching in the final days of voting. On Twitter, the Astros have changed their name to “#VoteAltuve," changed their avatar to a photo of Altuve and changed the across-the-top banner to an ad for the ASG campaign.
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Colangelo took advantage of the team's roadtrip to
the ASG host city by bringing Cabrera items |
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Meanwhile, the Tigers' "#VoteMiggy" hashtag can be found more than 50 times on the team's Twitter feed within the last week alone. The team also has taken its campaign on the road. Tigers VP/Communications Ron Colangelo on Wednesday took advantage of the team’s games in ASG-host-city Cincinnati by traveling with a Cabrera Fathead, bobblehead, T-shirt and postercard. Colangelo took photos of the Cabrera gear in front of various ASG-themed settings. FS Detroit reporter Trevor Thompson also accompanied Colangelo for a walk through the city asking Reds fans who they wanted to see starting at 1B for the AL. That segment ran Thursday night on the RSN, while the photos were shared throughout social media, including by Tigers P David Price. Furthermore, the Tigers next Wednesday will be sending approximately 45 fans on a one-day bus trip to see Tigers-Indians in Cleveland. Zeringue said that the idea is for travelers to utilize their own social media accounts to encourage voting from as many people as possible and to provide content for FS Detroit.
