Teixeira makes an All-Star comeback

On the morning of June 30, Mark Teixeira trailed Kevin Youkilis in fan balloting for the 2009 All-Star Game by 40,047 votes, looking up at his Red Sox counterpart 1,915,303 to
1,875,256.

Teixeira made up that ground and then some, collecting more than 1.4 million votes in the last two days of voting to earn his second All-Star selection and first as a Yankee. Teixeira was named the American League starting first baseman on Sunday, with his 3,309,050 votes edging Youkilis’ 3,069,906.

Derek Jeter was the American League’s leading vote-getter for the first time in his career, earning his 10th All-Star selection with 4,851,889 votes. Mariano Rivera made the American League squad for the 10th time via player balloting.

The selections were announced on the MLB All-Star Selection Show presented by Pepsi. Here are two thoughts from the TBS commentators:

David Wells on Derek Jeter: “(Jeter) is a phenom at shortstop.  I was lucky in my career to have Cal Ripken and Tony Fernandez play behind me.  When I went to New York and had this young kid (Jeter) play behind me after I played with Ripken, I didn’t miss a beat.  This guy knows how to play the hitters and he positions himself well up the middle or in the hole and he makes these great plays.”

Dennis Eckersley on Mariano Rivera: “This guy is the classiest guy in the game.  (He’s the) ‘Iceman” with no emotion, no pointing at people, no pointing to the sky.  He’s about (post-game) handshakes, getting into the game and getting out.  This guy is too cool for school.”