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From Tuesday afternoon through Thursday evening, the 22-year-old Millersville University graduate sat patiently at a laptop, repeatedly voting for Pat Burrell in an attempt to get the Phillies outfielder a spot on the National League All-Star team. Ferraro, along with three other Phillies fans, had earned the opportunity to participate in the campaign sponsored by Philadelphia sports-talk radio station 610WIP.
Major League Baseball was allowing fans to vote online for two players to fill the final roster spots in the upcoming All-Star game. Burrell was the only Phillie on the list, and the radio station thought getting four people to vote for him for two consecutive days might help secure him a spot. The four fans were given incentives: the one who stayed awake longest and voted the most would receive a jersey autographed by Burrell and would attend a Phillies game with 15 friends in Burrell's ballpark suite.
Ferraro estimated the foursome cast 70,000 votes by the time voting closed at 5 p.m. Thursday.
While their effort was solid, Burrell didn't get enough votes to make the All-Star game.
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Ferraro said he heard about the radio contest while making deliveries Tuesday morning for Philly Pretzel Factory, his father's company in Lititz.
He called his father, Nick Sr., and requested permission to leave work and go to Philadelphia.
"He told me this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it really was," Ferraro said.Joining Ferraro were Monica Horwedel of Conschohocken, Jason Schatz of Willow Grove and Todd Smith of Oreland. The four stayed under a tent next to Harry the K's restaurant in the upper reaches of the left-field stands. There, they bonded, which led them to a decision — instead of competing against each other, Ferraro said, they would work together. "We all won the contest," he said. "We kind of made a pact before we started. We said, 'It's not about who goes the longest or makes the most votes — we're all in this together.' "
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During his two days at the ballpark, Ferraro said, the group was treated like royalty.
"The stadium attendants treated us first class," he said. "They let us know whatever we needed they would get for us. The ushers were pretty much our security."
Burrell himself even acknowledged the group.
"We woke up Thursday morning and were hanging out when Burrell walked into our tent and said hello. He stayed there and talked to us for about 10 to 15 minutes. He's really a nice guy."
Ferraro said he and his tentmates then took a 45-minute break from voting to be shown around the ballpark by a Phillies representative. The group was invited to the field before the game, where they were introduced to Phillies players Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, among others. "We walked through the dugout and said hello to (Phillies manager) Charlie Manuel," Ferraro said."
The group also met actress Alyssa Milano, who was at the ballpark promoting a clothing line.
(763) (457) (134) (87) (43) (38) (31) (29) (23) (22) (19) (16) (4)Ferraro, who recently graduated from Millersville University with a bachelor's degree in communications, said his ballpark adventure may have opened doors for him to eventually land a job in sales.
"I'm looking to get a sales job in Philadelphia," the Elizabethtown Area High School graduate said. "This contest helped me meet a lot of people in the sales industry, and everyone I met told me to send them a résumé."
E-mail: jwalk@lnpnews.com
