Brandon Inge makes the All Star team

For the first time in his tumultuous ten year career with the Detroit Tigers Third Baseman Brandon Inge is going to the All Star game in St. Louis on Tuesday July 14. One of the biggest reasons why Inge is going, aside from the fact that he is on pace to hit at least 30 home runs and is one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball, is because he had the benefit of one of the best marketing campaigns I've ever seen for a professional athlete.

It was very simple, the Tigers simple partnered up with the Philadelphia Philles, who were trying to get Shane Victorino in on the last ballot, to create the "Bran Torino" campaign, an obvious pun on the most recent and allegedly last Clint Eastwood film "Grand Torino." The movie was set and partially filmed in Detroit, giving the area some much needed screen time in the current economic state. Since the movie was nationally popular the Philly fans were able to get with the program and with no other teams partnering up to promote their stars, it was inevitable that the two would win.

Things like this goes to show the power of cooperation in order to achieve a common goal. In this case it shows how to manipulate popular culture into something catchy by working together. A lot of people have criticized both players, saying that they don't deserve to get to the All-Star game and maybe they weren't the best players out there. But by using something that fans knew about both teams were able to motivate the fans to get their players into the All-Star game on the last ballot.

You can see Inge and his three All-Star teammates, Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Curtis Granderson, at Comerica Park all summer long, currently the team is in first place and hopes to stay that way. If you want to get to the roar of the Tigers with time to catch batting practice talk to Golden Limousine who will give the extra effort to get you all the way home as well, no matter where home is.