Joey Votto's rise to superstardom did not come without struggle and heartache.
Look up Toronto-born Major League first baseman Joey Votto on the world wide inter-web and you’ll find the letters CIN after his name. That denote the fact that he plays for the Cincinnati Reds, one of the oldest and most storied franchises in the history of the great game.
Now you can add three more letters -- MVP -- after the 27-year old wrestled the NL award away from Albert Pujols, who was the two-time defending most valuable player and has long been considered the best overall player in the senior circuit.
Playing as a regular for the Reds for just his second full season, Votto flirted with the unreachable Triple Crown for much of the year, finishing with a .324 average (second in NL), 37 home runs (third) and 113 RBI, the closest that a hitter has come since Carl Yastrzemski swept the three statistical categories for the Red Sox back in 1967 when I was four-years old and most of you faithful readers were just a twinkle in your daddy's eye. In fact, no one in the National League can claim that distinction since Joe 'Ducky' Medwick turned the trick for the Cardinals thirty years before Yaz's dream season.
For Canadian baseball fans, Votto's name now sits on the same level as two other Canuck left-handed sluggers -- Larry Walker and Justin Morneau -- who won their MVP awards in 1997 and 2006 respectively. But while you can debate whether Walker or Morneau is the best hitter to be born and raised in British Columbia, Votto can lay claim to the title in Ontario. The only other player from that province who has better credentials would be Chatham's Ferguson Jenkins, winner of the 1971 NL Cy Young Award and inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Votto's rise to the upper echelon of baseball superstardom did not come without heartache. After the sudden death of his father Joe in August of 2008 at the age of 52, Joey tried to block his emotions out and just play the game. But his loss came to a head the following May after he had to be shut down with upper respiratory and ear infections. While being away from the game on the disabled list, the full weight of his grief bubbled to the surface while he was away from the game. Panic/anxiety attacks forced him to twice seek medical help, and on three other occasions he had to be removed from games after rejoining his team.
But after he was able to wrestle with his emotional distress and finally come to grips with his loss, Votto returned to the Reds in late June of 2009 and has been one of the top hitters in the game ever since. His 164 RBI in his last 243 games is fourth-most in the National League over that time span, and he took his game to another level in 2010. And like countrymen Walker and Morneau before him, Votto shows some of the fine qualities that make the Canadian easy to cheer for. I'm talking about being humble and respectful, traits usually reserved for our hockey heroes.
Votto's MVP award was the 12th such honour by a Reds player, joining the likes of Frank Robinson, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose, and will ultimately come at a cost for the franchise. Votto made an underwhelming salary of $525,000 last season and finds himself eligible for salary arbitration for the first time. It says here that the Reds might be best served to sign the lefty slugger to a long-term deal instead of going in front of the arbitrator where anything is possible.
Or perhaps the Blue Jays can find their way into the equation. They are currently without an everyday first baseman and Jays fans everywhere would love to get one of the top Canadian hitters to play in his hometown while his career is still on the upswing, something that has yet to happen in the history of the franchise. I realize that's not likely to happen in the near future, but it doesn't hurt to dream.
I was introduced to young Joey at Grant Field, Dunedin Stadium (or whatever they are currently calling the Blue Jays spring training ballpark) back in March of 2006 when he came over from the Reds' spring training complex in Sarasota to fill out the traveling roster. He seemed like a nice, polite young man. It's easy to cheer for a guy who ends a first meeting with, "Pleasure to meet you, sir."
I think it was the first -- and only -- time a professional athlete ever called me that.
