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I know what a lot of people think when San Francisco Giants fans are brought up. Stationed in one of the most expensive zip codes in all of America, the average baseball fan thinks that those of us that root for the Giants are brie-munching, pinot-sipping yuppies.
In actuality, we are one of the most hopelessly devoted fans in all of baseball, which was proven by the outrageous numbers put up in fan voting for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.
Nothing shows the fan's devotion more that Pablo Sandoval overtaking David Wright as the starting third baseman in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.
First, lets that a quick look at how each have fared this season:
David Wright:
| Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | NYM | NL | 76 | 329 | 277 | 53 | 98 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 50 | 48 | 42 | .354 | .447 | .560 | 1.006 |
Pablo Sandoval:
| Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | SFG | NL | 45 | 188 | 170 | 26 | 51 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 16 | 25 | .300 | .362 | .471 | .832 |
Wright's played in 31 more games, is batting .54 points higher, and has 25 more RBI than Sandoval. In fact, Wright is essentially statistically superior this season in every category. But that doesn't mean a thing when it comes to being an All-Star starter, it's all up to the fan vote. And boy, do Giants fans know how to vote.
In total Sandoval got himself 5,743,542 votes compared to Wright's 4,133,380. Kung Fu Panda closed a nearly 465,000-vote gap over the course of the final week of voting (thanks largely in part to the efforts of the Giants PR department) because you, the average fan, got off your ass and decided to vote.
Yes, New York is a huge market and Wright probably should have been the starter, but there is no one to blame but yourself, Mets fans. A city of 8 million out-voted by a city of 800,000? Come on. Mr. Wright deserved better than that.
I mean, Buster Posey made All-Star voting history with his outrageous number of votes en route to his first trip to the midsummer classic (a new NL record of 7,621,370 votes to be exact.) That's some serious dedication by the fan base.
Angel Pagan finished fifth among NL outfielders, better than the likes of Matt Holliday, Andrew McCutchen and Hunter Pence. Gotta respect that.
Freddy Sanchez, who hasn't played a second of Giants baseball in more than a year, ranked fourth among NL second basemen with 2,289,147 votes. That's just insanity.
Youngsters Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford finished second at first base and shortstop too; Belt's 3.9 million were well behind Joey Votto, though Crawford's 3.6 million votes were just 300,000 fewer than the Cardinals' Rafael Furcal. Crawford got more votes than guys like Troy Tulowitzki and Jimmy Rollins. Even more insanity.
Melky Cabrera is a first time All-Star, too, and thanks to the ravenous voting frenzy over the last few weeks, will also be starting for the National League (good work Melkmen).
So what does all this mean? It means that when it comes to being a staunch supporter of your squad, there really aren't better fans than Giants fans. We sell out every game, wear whatever the hell we want, and we show the love to those we root for.
So I say thank you for all your hard work, and just keep on doing what you are doing. Keep being the best.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.
