Nick Swisher Launches Embarrassing Campaign, Begs Celebs Like LeBron James for All-Star Vote

In a tight race for the final spot on the AL All-Star team, Kevin Youkilis had the chance to promote himself Tuesday afternoon on the radio while talking with Tom Caron and and Eric Frede. Youkilis took the high road and politely declined.

Nick Swisher, well, he's not taking the high road. He's taking an alternate route.

The Yankees' outfielder has launched a desperate campaign via Twitter, sending messages to as many big names in the world as he possibly can in order to help get votes. Among them are new Twitter god LeBron James, Donald Trump, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jennifer Lopez, Bill Maher, Kevin Smith, Jimmy Fallon, George Stephanopoulos, Ann Curry, Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, Paul McCartney, Michael Bloomberg and others.

The whole thing is a bit embarrassing.

Swisher is 29 years old. He's been in the league since 2004. He's on the richest team that plays in the biggest market in the country. He should know that there are times when you should just put a lid on your campaign to market yourself as one of the best players in baseball. If you're good enough, you will make it. If not, you will watch on television.

The key word there, of course, is "should." Reality has Swisher trying to convince people he's an All-Star — a position that will make him look a bit silly if he does not end up winning the vote.

"Seems like this final man vote has turned into a NY vs. Boston thing. Need all my NYers 2 vote!" Swisher wrote.

Perhaps Swisher is aware that statistically, he's not better than Youkilis. The Sox' first baseman is batting .299 with 1.002 OPS thanks in large part to his 17 homers, 19 doubles and five triples. He also has committed just two errors in 688 chances at first and third base.

By comparison, Swisher is batting .296 with an .883 OPS, thanks to 13 homers, 17 doubles and three triples. Defensively, there is no comparison, as Swisher has made two errors in 143 chances in the outfield.

A case could be made that neither Youkilis or Swisher should go and that the spot should go to Paul Konerko, who's launched 20 dingers this season at age 34. The passionate fan bases of the Red Sox and Yankees, however, will likely make that a moot point.

For now, we'll all just have to see which celebrities Swisher will latch onto next in order to advance his own cause of promoting himself.