Schuster: Justice Is Served, Konerko Going To All-Star game
By David Schuster-
CHICAGO (WSCR) It never should have come to an extra fan vote but Paul Konerko is going to the All Star game anyway. Konerko held off Detroit's Victor Martinez in the four day balloting to gain entry into his fifth mid-summer classic.
Konerko ended up with 8.4 million votes and he can thank the tireless efforts of the White Sox marketing and public relations departments. Over 50 different people in the front office worked overtime to get out the extra vote. And make no mistake, people voted early and often as Konerko noted, "People tell me they go blind when they vote because it takes so long to do. I know it's not easy and it's painstaking so I appreciate it."
This was a no lose situation for the White Sox captain. Even if he didn't win the extra vote Konerko would have gone to his beach house in California for three days (nice consolation prize). But by winning, Konerko gets a free trip home to Phoenix where he lives and he told us it never gets old going to the All Star game.
"Any time you have a chance to go you go," he said. "Playing with the best players in the game has always been an honor and still is."
Konerko becomes the third White Sox player to win the extra fan vote, following Scott Podsednik in 2005 and A.J. Pierzynski in 2006.
