ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Justin Upton has ‘Bieber Fever’

May 19, 2011, 3:31 AM | Updated: 4:53 am

PHOENIX – Justin Upton is getting some celebrity help in his attempt to
make it to the All-Star game in Phoenix.

Justin Bieber recently tweeted “shoutout to my boys
@bjupton2 and @realjustinupton – make sure to vote for them as starters
in the MLB Allstar game.”

“It was brought to my attention,” said Upton before Wednesday’s game
against the Braves. “My PR people brought it to me. It was something fun
to do. I’m a big fan of his and the way his career is going. Hopefully it does
help out.”

It couldn’t hurt. At last check Bieber had more than 9.7 million followers on
Twitter. Upton? 19,394.

There’s no telling how many Beliebers are baseball fans who will cast votes
for the Uptons, but at the very least the younger Justin has helped the
other one gain a few followers on Twitter.

“My following isn’t quite as big as his and probably won’t ever be. But in
the last few days it’s been going up quite a bit so it’s pretty cool,” said
Upton.

And no, Upton has not met the Grammy Award winning artist. “Not just yet
but you know hopefully in the near future.”

Upton is, after all, a fan.

“I’ve got a few of his songs. He makes good music but I’m more of a fan of
him because of how young he is and the way he handles his stardom and
his fame,” explained Upton who was 19 when he made his major league
debut.

“You look at somebody that young and being able to handle what he’s
going through. It’s awesome.”

So there’s a mutual respect there. However, that still doesn’t explain why
the teen idol is tweeting about the Diamondbacks rightfielder.

ArizonaSports.com’s Craig Grialou contributed to this report

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