Swisher, Votto Top Early Returns After First 24 Hours of Fan Voting

NEW YORK, July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Nick Swisher of the New York Yankees and Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds topped the early returns from the more than 10 million votes registered in the opening 24 hours of the 2010 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint.

Swisher led a tightly-contested race for the American League's final roster spot, followed closely by Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox; Michael Young of the Texas Rangers; Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox; and Delmon Young of the Minnesota Twins.

On the National League ballot, Votto grabbed the top spot out-of-the-gate over the other four candidates, narrowly ahead of Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals; Billy Wagner of the Atlanta Braves; Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies; and Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres.

The ninth annual All-Star Game Final Vote ballot commenced exclusively on MLB.com and the individual Club sites at 1 p.m. (EDT) yesterday and will continue until balloting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 8.

Originally introduced during this year's online balloting for the elected starters, fans can campaign for their favorite player on the Final Vote ballot through MLB.com's All-Star Campaign Manager program, tallying points by getting their friends, family and co-workers to vote through social networking, and competing to be recognized as an "official" Final Vote Campaign Manager for any player they helped support.

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint, Nextel and Boost capable mobile phones and fans can send the word "Vote" to 1122 to receive the 2010 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint ballot. Message and data rates may apply. In Canada, fans can text "Vote" to 88555. Standard text rates apply.

The All-Star Game Final Vote program has seen nearly 200 million votes cast since its inception in 2002, including last year's record-setting total (68.6 million) when fans chose Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. Previous winners of the All-Star 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).

SOURCE MLB.com