Big Red Fans Can Join Kansas City Campaign to Make Gordon an All-Star

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Take it straight from Dick Kaegel, the former Kansas City Royals beat writer who now covers the same team for MLB.Com: Lincoln's own Alex Gordon can beat the "big-city boys" in the All-Star Game Final Vote that determines the final player for each league's All-Star Game roster.

Gordon ranked third early in this popularity contest that ends at 3 p.m. Thursday, giving Nebraska fans a golden opportunity to join what can now be considered an official Kansas City-based campaign designed to show baseball fans everywhere that a small-market city can rally around one of their own and beat the big-city boys.

"Kansas Citians, look to Milwaukee," Kaegel wrote Tuesday afternoon, challenging Royals fans to vote for Gordon, so he can overtake "a couple guys from the Windy City and Motown" - Chicago White Sox first-baseman Paul Konerko and Detroit designated hitter/catcher Victor Martinez.

Konerko ranks fourth in the American League in both home runs (21) and RBIs (62) and fifth in batting average (.317), while Martinez is helping the Tigers battle Cleveland for the AL Central lead with a .333 average, the second best in the A.L.

Kaegel sees a fitting source of inspiration for this rare opportunity. Kansas City manager Ned Yost, after all, was the Milwaukee manager in 2008 when Brewer fans got behind outfielder Corey Hart in the Final Vote and got him elected to that year's All-Star Game at old Yankee Stadium.

"It was shocking that Corey Hart got elected," Yost told Kaegel. "People looked around and said, "'How did Milwaukee vote him in?' And there was a New York guy in there. We can do the same thing in Kansas City."

In Yost's view, it's a simple "matter of Kansas City pride that can spread to ignite the passion of baseball fans everywhere who love to back the underdog," Kaegel wrote.

It's Time for Husker Nation to Join the Action

Well, consider Husker Nation as more than just a fringe player in this annual Internet and text message ballot by Major League Baseball fans to elect the final player for each all-star team after all other selections have been made and announced on national television.

Spurred by fellow Nebraska Athletic Department staffers Bob Burton and former Husker pitcher Mike Dobbs, I voted for Gordon a couple dozen times, clicking this official ballot each time. Once I voted for Gordon, provided my email address, birth date and zip code, apparently I could vote as many times as I wanted, just as long as I entered a new five-number validation key for each and every vote.

For Nebraska fans, VOTE NOW is almost like a battle cry whenever it comes to voting for your favorite coach, team, player, mascot or cheerleader. Ask college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit how aggressive Husker fans can be in electronic voting when someone dares to label the greatest team in college football history.

Well, this may not be football, but the cause is equally important, especially for a program that just hired Darin Erstad, Will Bolt and Ted Silva to resurrect Nebraska baseball and pave that short stretch of I-80 that connects Lincoln with Omaha and the College World Series.

Make no mistake. Nebraska is an important part of this campaign.

"Here's Gordon, who grew up in Nebraska, rooted for the Royals, came to play for them and overcame obstacles to emerge as a star this year," Kaegel wrote, adding that the former Husker All-American and 2005 College Baseball Player of the Year is "just on the edge of All-Star recognition" and "needs an electoral outpouring to get him there."

Let the Electoral Outpouring Begin Now

So let the outpouring begin. I'm willing to open an iPad tonight and pepper it with more votes than a high-energy country fan would give Scotty McCreery after a stirring Johnny Cash or Elvis song on American Idol.

Are you?

Yost still finds time to sit in front of his computer and punch in votes for Gordon on MLB.Com. At one point, according to Kaegel, Yost even asked Kansas City General Manager Dayton Moore's young son, Robert, to take the keyboard and give it a workout for Gordon's benefit.

"If you're going to ask fans to vote, Yost figures, you better be doing it yourself," Kaegel wrote.

If you're reading this on your phone instead of your computer, that's fine, too, because mobile voting is pivotal in situations like this where numbers come in millions rather than hundreds of thousands.

Mobile voting in the U.S. and Canada is open to everyone. In the U.S., to receive the 2011 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint mobile ballot, text the word "VOTE" to 89269. Your choice to vote for Gordon will be "A1" and you complete your choice by texting to 89269. In Canada, fans should text their choices to 65246. Standard message and data rates may apply.

The Royals, of course, are using social media to support Gordon, urging their fans on Twitter (hashtag: #VoteAlex) to vote the ex-Husker star in to the All-Star Game. We are using the same capabilities on Huskers.com in a late push on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Track for Big Numbers, Possible Gold Glove

You may recall that Gordon broke out fast with a .356 average in April. We also should point out that he's already played in more games this year than last season. He's currently hitting .298 with 98 hits, 24 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs, 46 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has a .367 on-base percentage, a .486 slugging percentage, and he leads the major leagues with 13 outfield assists in a Gold Glove-like performance. He's also tracking at season projections of about 200 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBIs.

"I think it's pretty cool," Gordon said about being on the Final Vote list. "Just to be up for it means a lot."

Yost believes rallying around Gordon will show the baseball world that Kansas City is a serious place. "It always has been a serious place, but it hasn't had a real opportunity to shine in the last 15 years because of the team," he told Kaegel.

"We just need to push it, and people need to vote," Yost said, adding that it's so easy, you can "Vote for Gordo" (the campaign named by his Royal teammates) between 50 and 100 times, depending on how fast you can move your fingers.

So start voting right here right now, even if you've punched in Alex Gordon's name a couple dozen times already. And be sure to pass it on to every friend and family member you know that happens to bleed either Nebraska red or Royal blue or "like me", both.

Who knows? If Al - the name Alex's family members and close friends call him - wins this Final Vote and makes the American League All-Star roster, Al Gordon may become a lot more common.

It is, after all, just an "A" and an "L" which is also short for A.L. All-Star, a moniker that would become a permanent part of who he is and what he's accomplished.

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