Doing my part

SPORTING GOODS

Item:

Online fan balloting for the 16 elected starting position players in the 2009 All-Star Game came to a record-setting end on Thursday night.

During the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Balloting program, 223.5 million votes from 17.8 million ballots were cast at MLB.com and the 30 individual club sites. Both are the largest figures in the nine years of online balloting at MLB.com, surpassing the previous record in 2008.

The truth of the matter is that MLB makes it ridiculously simple to vote the maximum 25 times. With just a few mouse clicks one can vote for the same players over and over again—and I did, although I might have been a little overzealous in my support of a former National League MVP.