I know it goes on in every ballpark in the country, but I never thought I'd see a Major League team encourage their fans to stuff the ballot boxes in all-star voting.
The Milwaukee Brewers have a total of eight players on the ballot for the 78th Major League Baseball All-Star game, scheduled for July 10th in San Francisco.
The Brewers and several partners are sponsoring the "Vote Brewers!" campaign to spur the effort, and fans who vote are eligible to win unique prizes. Fans attending home games between this Friday and June 19 can visit the Miller Park All-Star Polling District at the Home Plate Gate. Anyone who votes 10 or more times will be eligible for a prize drawing at each game. Winners will receive items such as authentic game-used jerseys and autographed memorabilia.
Those fans that vote online at brewers.com who select Brewers as their "favorite" or "other favorite" team will be automatically entered into another prize drawing.
Brewers represented on this year's ballot include Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, Craig Counsell, Johnny Estrada, Geoff Jenkins, Bill Hall and Corey Hart.
I'm in no way trying to discourage fans to stuff the ballot boxes at Miller Park. They do it at other parks, so why not. And perhaps other teams have similar promotions. I'm just not aware of it and didn't think I'd see the day that fans would be encouraged to spend half of the game punching ballot's, instead of watching the game!