Joey Votto is one of the best players in the game. In 2011, he hit .309/.416/.531 with 29 home runs and 103 RBIs. Some “experts” now rank the 27-year-old Votto ahead of the 31-year-old Albert Pujols, the player Votto measures himself against,
Saying that Votto is focused on improving is an understatement. At spring training in 2001, after being voted the league’s MVP, he reiterated that he had to improve.
“I want to be great at what I do. I take a lot of pride in it,” said Votto. “And I try not to sell myself short in my work and preparation.”
Votto worked out five hours a day, six days a week during the off season. He is close to achieving his goal, which is to be boring. It is another way of thinking of consistency.
“I think I am boring. That’s good. I strive for boring in all elements of my game”
Since his first full season in 2008, Votto’s batting average has been between .324 and .297. His home run high was 37 in his 2010 MVP season. His low was 24 during 2008.
Not much as been written nationally about Votto this season, partly due to the Cincinnati Reds disappointing season, but instead of being upset, the intensely private Votto is pleased.
“One of the advantages of playing in a smaller market is that I can go back to Toronto, or all across the States and never be recognized,” he says. “I get to go out to dinner, walk my dog, or go to the mall and nobody knows who I am.”
Don’t draw the wrong conclusion. Votto wants his talent to be acknowledged, but he doesn’t want to remain in the spotlight.
Unlike most players and most individuals, Votto almost eschews materialism.
Viewing the players’ parking lot at the Reds spring training complex that included Escalades, Land Rovers and a red Ferrari, a reporter asked Votto if one of them belonged to him. He told the reporter that materialistic things were not his priority. Continuing, he said that he is still spending his $600,000 signing bonus from 2002.
The Reds and the New York Yankees were the only clubs seriously interested in Votto. The Reds made him their second round pick in 2002, beating the Yankees to the punch.
Young Votto was in drama class at Etobicoke’s Richview Collegiate when his cell phone rang. It was his mother, telling him that the Reds had taken him. To say that he was relieved is an understatement.
The reason Votto was in school was to avoid the Yankees scout who had been badgering him.
But Votto wasn’t really anti-Yankees. He named his dog Maris, in honor of baseball’s single season home run champion. . “I thought it was kind of unfair that Roger got treated like s–t, while everyone wanted Mickey Mantle to do it,”
In 2009, Votto had health problems, but they weren’t physical injuries. There was unexplained dizziness that forced him to go to the emergency twice due to panic attacks.
“It got to the point where I thought I was going to die,” Votto later told reporters. He was suffering from anxiety and depression. He left the team for three weeks to seek treatment.
Dusty Baker, the Reds much-maligned manager, summed up Votto’s intensity.
What do I do, tell him a joke every day?” asks Baker. “Sometimes you just leave people alone, Joey’s just Joey, He still likes to have a good time.”
Reference:
. Galehouse, Jonathan.
“Playing for keeps: Joey Votto won the National League’s MVP and led the Cincinnati Reds to the playoffs. Still, he’s working even harder on his game.” Maclean’s 25 Apr. 2011: 59+. General OneFile. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.