Time for a group hug? Freddie Freeman, the Braves first baseman of the “Hugs for Votes” T-shirt campaign and massive #VoteFreddie momentum on Twitter, won the National League Final Vote as the league’s last player voted into Tuesday’s All-Star game at Citi Field.
This will be the first All-Star game for Freeman in his third full major league season. He beat out the Dodgers’ Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig, the Giants’ Hunter Pence, Nationals’ Ian Desmond and Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez.
Freeman garnered a record 19.7 million votes, more than four million more than the previous record held by Shane Victornino in 2009.
“That’s a lot of hugs,” Freeman said after a five-minute interview with assembled media Thursday afternoon during which he had a hard time wiping the smile off his face.
Braves general manager Frank Wren pulled Freeman off the field when he was taking groundballs in batting practice Thursday to tell him he made it.
“Kind of speechless,” said Freeman, who planned to make his first call to his father Fred. “I wouldn’t have been here obviously without the fans and I just saw that it was 19.7 million votes. It’s incredible….To get this much love and support from everybody is just unimaginable.”
Freeman got a kick out of seeing one Braves fan tweet votes for him hundreds of times Thursday morning.
“My timeline was just getting blown up,” Freeman said. “I wouldn’t have been here if she wasn’t doing that. It’s just been an amazing thrill to see all the comments on my Twitter. To see some of the other athletes and celebrities that came out and said vote for me, I never thought anything like this would happen to me.”
When Freeman was named to the Final Vote Saturday, he said he didn’t think he had any chance of beating out Puig. But Freeman led with every tally released. By Thursday morning it started to hit him that a player from a supposedly laid back fanbase might beat out a player from the second largest city in the United States, and a media darling at that.
Major League Baseball did not release totals for other players on the “Final Vote.” But to ESPN, among media outlets drawing criticism from the Braves this week for promoting Puig, it was bigger news that Puig lost than Freeman won. That’s how ESPN displayed it an on-screen graphic when the announcement was made: “Yasiel Puig not votes onto NL All-Star team. Freddie Freeman wins vote.”
Puig had played only 35 games in the majors. That he was being considered for the All-Star game didn’t sit well with outspoken veterans like Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon and Freeman’s teammates Dan Uggla and Kris Medlen.
Entering Thursday, Freeman was leading the Braves in batting average (.307), RBIs (56), on-base percentage (.388), hits (92) and was fifth in the majors in batting average with runners in scoring position (.397). He’s been the most consistent hitter on a team that’s led the NL East since April 5 but only had closer Craig Kimbrel originally named to the All-Star team last Saturday.
Freeman’s teammates kick-started his “grassroots” campaign, by making “Vote Freeman” cardboard signs they displayed in the Braves dugout on their recent road trip, as well as the “hug for votes” T-shirts.
Many of his teammates took to Twitter in support of Freeman for the final six hours of voting Thursday as Major League Baseball included votes from the social media site for the second straight year. Freeman won the Twitter vote, which accounted for 13 percent of the overall tally.
Freeman had gotten tweets of support from celebrities like country singer Jason Aldean, Falcons receiver Roddy White and Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson. Freeman retweeted a photo one fan had posted from First Baptish Church of Decatur that said “Hug Life. #Vote Freeman.”
When he looks back over his career one day, Thursday’s vote tally will certainly represent a turning point. In the moment, Freeman had a hard time fathoming its scope.
“19.7 million people – well I don’t know it could have been just one person,” Freeman said, drawing a laugh. “It’s been amazing. It’s just unbelievable that I actually won.”
