A's Fans Claim Conspiracy As Sogard Narrowly Misses 'Face Of MLB' Title
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Call it revenge against the nerds: with just hours to go, the big-market New York Mets and star slugger David Wright staged a comeback to claim the "Face of MLB" title over surprising finalist Eric Sogard of the Oakland Athletics in a Twitter-based contest run by Major League Baseball.
The infielder's campaign, which earned the hash tag #NERDPOWER due to his trademark glasses, took down bigger name stars like Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies and Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, as well as Giants MVP Buster Posey.
Sogard was poised to claim the final title until the wee hours of the morning, when Wright voters turned the tide.
The pre-dawn comeback caused many A's fans to unite behind a new theme: #rigged.
"It's the 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. slot where the shenanigans went down," said lifelong A's fan Asa Niland.
One explanation for the surge, it appears, was a savvy Mets PR rep who helped secure the win by offering prizes to people voting for Wright.
Also to blame was the fact that the polls closed at 8 a.m. Eastern time when people in New York were far more likely to be voting than folks in the Bay Area.
"It's just like the A's to make a great run and come up just short," said Niland. "It's just not like the Mets to win anything."
For their part, the A's organization seemed content to settle for 2nd without stirring up any further conspiracies.
Even in defeat, the #NERDPOWER surge has loyal A's fans fired up for opening day while the rest of the league is just getting back into the spring training swing.
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