The All-Star Final Vote was an annual Internet and text message ballot by Major League Baseball (MLB) fans to elect the final player for each team that participates in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, after all other selections were made and announced.

Each league presented a five-man ballot and gave the fans a few days to choose one final All-Star.

This forced Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick to step in and replace Wally Post and Gus Bell with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron that season and to turn over the starting lineup selection to players, coaches and managers for several subsequent seasons.

[1] In 2003, the major league players began electing a reserve for each position as well as five starters and three relievers, although the All-Star game managers performed this duty once.

The All-Star game manager, guided by the baseball commissioner's office, then selects a list of five nominees for the fans to choose from for the remaining roster spot for each league's team.

The voting commences after the announcement of the nominees toward the end of the show, and continues for a prescribed number of days.

All-star game experience is based on the time of the final ballot nominations (before voting).

[9] The voting lasted only two days and was held exclusively online through each of the 30 teams' official websites and ESPN.com.

[9] Both winners, Johnny Damon and Andruw Jones played center field and recorded 3 official All-Star game at bats.

On Monday July 7, 2003, Kenny Lofton was added to the ballot to replace the Chicago Cubs' Corey Patterson who was injured on the day before.

However, he is considered by many to be the victim of lack of run support, questionable relief pitching and an average defense.

[35] Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, replaced injured Colorado reliever Brian Fuentes.

Longoria drew a record nine million votes for his selection, over second-place finisher Jermaine Dye.

Hart joined teammates outfielder Ryan Braun and pitcher Ben Sheets.

Finishing in a close second was New York Mets third baseman David Wright, who eventually made the team as a replacement for injured Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

Hart's victory marked the third time that a club had a winning representative more than once; Geoff Jenkins (also from the Milwaukee Brewers) was elected in 2003.

[41] The 2009 "All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote" included no pitchers for the second consecutive year.

In exchange for their sponsorship, text voting was available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones.

Victorino became the fourth Hawaiian (following pitchers Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Charlie Hough) to be selected to the Major League All-star game.

This year's ballot, which is shown below in order of finish, was influenced by advertisements, online commercials, fliers, merchandise, official endorsements from people such as 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and contemporary technology such as Twitter.

Swisher, who at the time was the most followed Twitter user, edged out Youkilis, in what was described as the closest race in the history of the All-Star Final Vote.

[45] Heath Bell was named substitute for Yovani Gallardo before the conclusion of the Final Vote and was removed from the ballot.

[6] Fans were encouraged to participate as campaign managers by generating votes via Twitter, Facebook and MLB.com websites for their choice.

[51] The contest saw an unusual alliance in which Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves fans supported each other's nominees.

[52] This resulted in Toronto relief pitcher Steve Delabar and Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman winning the voting.