A vote for a healthy Victorino

THE FANS get an opportunity to have a voice and enjoy being part of a contrived, sponsorship-driven election.

Major League Baseball gets thousands and thousands and thousands of new email addresses from those fans for its future marketing endeavors.

Baseball purists get apoplexy.

So it's a win-win-win situation. With that, welcome to the Final Vote.

By this time today, barring a drastic change in the voting habits among the population of those with nothing better to do, the Phillies' Shane Victorino will be an All-Star. Yesterday, as a man with a sprained right thumb, a day off and an election to win, Victorino made the media rounds and stumped for votes that would make him the final National League player selected.

If he wins, he will travel next week to Phoenix to an annual game that began as a kind of added attraction to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and as a way of raising money for charity and continued on through the decades as a showcase for fans to see the best players. It was always about the fans, and about being a television show (watched by fans), and about the sport marketing its players and its merchandise (purchased by fans).

Fan voting for the starters, by punch cards in the ballpark or online - for the fans, and ridiculously popular.

Home Run Derby - terribly played out, but another ticket to sell (that fans buy) and another night of programming (that fans watch).

Winner hosts Game 1 of the World Series - to make it a better television show (and, therefore, more attractive to fans).

The Final Vote - et cetera.

That purists complain about this ignores nearly 80 years of history. It has always been an exhibition, a show. In that sense, it is only natural that Victorino - a player from a great team in a big market with a winning, infectious personality - is likely to be voted in for a second time as the final player on the NL team.

Here is the thing about Victorino: His personality is all about bursts of spontaneity, but his game this season has been all about metronomic consistency. It is why this thumb injury is one that bears watching and one that they shouldn't even consider fooling around with.