In 2010, Joey Votto was voted the National League’s most valuable player, making him just the third Canadian-born MVP in major league history after fellow sluggers Larry Walker and Justin Morneau. Pretty good company for a guy who once spent his summers spraying line drives around Connorvale Park.
Votto’s rise to baseball superstardom isn’t a surprise to those who know him. But it wasn’t just his talent that got him noticed—at every level, no one worked harder than Joey Votto. “He’d show up every spring and you’d say, ‘he’s better,’ and every September you’d say, ‘he’s even better,’” Naeem Siddiq, a teacher at Etobicoke Collegiate who coached against Votto’s Richview Saints, told the Toronto Sun. Even after a game in which Votto hit three home runs, Siddiq found him on the field hours later, fine-tuning his swing.
Votto is the most famous product of the Etobicoke Rangers led by Bob Smyth, who also coached him at Richview. But his road to the big leagues began when his parents, Joseph and Wendy, first gave their eight-year-old son a bat. Games of catch with his dad became a daily ritual, and Votto played little league baseball with Bloordale while celebrating with kids across the country when the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series titles.
Whether calmly sinking free throws to clinch a basketball championship or launching a mammoth home run in his last high school at-bat, Votto’s habit of coming through in the clutch was born at Richview. Not content to rely on his natural talent, he spent every free moment in the weight room or the batting cage. “I’ve never seen anybody like Joey and I never will,” Richview baseball coach Stath Koumoutseas told the Toronto Star. “We’re just proud to watch him.”
Major league scouts were slower to catch on, as the promising catcher from Etobicoke was passed over on draft day during his Grade 12 season. To better his chances, Votto moved from Mel Oswald’s Canadian Thunderbirds club to Smyth’s Rangers of the Etobicoke Baseball Association, a decision that paid major dividends. “Bob Smyth was and is the most important baseball person I’ve ever had in my life,” Votto told the Star. “My dad introduced me to baseball, and he certainly was right there, head to head, in terms of his impact.”
Smyth in turn credits Votto’s work ethic and desire. “If you told him to work on something, he’d go and do it,” Smyth, now a part-time MLB scout, told Maclean’s. Smyth’s mentor, Nick Rico—an Etobicoke resident who played minor-league ball in the late 1940s and early 50s—also had a hand in refining Votto’s MVP-calibre swing.
Votto didn’t become a star with the Rangers right away. “My teammates were always a challenge to me because I was never the best player,” he told the Humber Etcetera. “I believe I would have been successful regardless, but I would be lying if I said I would have had the same opportunities with another club.”
While working out at the Rangers’ indoor facility at Kipling and Lakeshore, the shy yet inquisitive youngster picked up tips from MLB prospects Peter Orr and John Suomi. Former big leaguer Greg O’Halloran also influenced him, as did training partner Warren Bradley.
Votto played so well at showcase tournaments that when the 2002 MLB amateur draft came around, the Yankees and Reds came knocking, with Cincinnati drafting Votto in the second round (44th overall). In one sense, it was the fulfillment of a dream few kids get to experience. But for Joey Votto, the work was just beginning.
Although he initially didn’t have a set position in the minors, Votto’s bat carried him through the Reds’ system and finally garnered him widespread attention as a prospect to watch. After five years working his way up to Triple-A, he made his major league debut with the Reds on September 4, 2007. In his second career at-bat, he hit a home run.
Votto’s first few seasons at the sport’s highest level couldn’t have gone much better; the quietly confident athlete achieved consistent excellence on the field and in the batter’s box, earning an invitation to play for Canada at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2009. He responded by batting .556, ensuring a second invite in 2013. Analysts rave about Votto’s quick, powerful swing, and opponents marvel at his command of the strike zone and ability to change strategy during an at-bat. But what seems effortless today is the result of thousands of hours of hard work.
In 2010, Votto hit .324 with 37 home runs and 113 runs batted in to unseat Albert Pujols as MVP. “Not to be dramatic or anything, but after I was told, I couldn’t help but cry because I know how much at some point this meant to me and would have meant to my father,” Votto said after the announcement. His fearsome presence in the lineup helped Cincinnati clinch its first division title in 15 years.
The award capped off a year that saw Votto named to his first of four straight allstar teams and win the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete of the year, plus the Hank Aaron Award as the National League’s best hitter. Arguably just as impressive was the fact that he led the majors in on-base percentage (OBP) and was tops in the NL in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging (OPS). He has since repeated as NL OBP champ four years running, and was rewarded for his stellar defense at first base with the 2011 Gold Glove.
All his success on the diamond hasn’t changed the fact that Joey Votto is also an all-star person. Whether it’s sending thank-you cards to team staff or spending time with the current crop of Etobicoke Rangers, Votto’s reputation as unfailingly polite, forthright and thoughtful is well earned, as is his penchant for quiet generosity. As he explained to Maclean’s: “There are so many different ways to help. A lot of people take pride in doing things privately.”
His most public charitable effort was born of personal tragedy. In August 2008, Joseph Votto Sr. died suddenly at age 52. Joey gamely played through his grief, but partway through the following season he was hit with crippling panic attacks and experienced bouts of clinical depression that forced him out of the lineup and into the hospital. Votto went public with his struggles, crediting the treatment and counseling he received with helping him address his emotions and get back on the diamond.
Votto’s experience coping with traumatic loss—and his lifelong respect for the sacrifice of Canadian and American soldiers—inspired him to create a foundation to help veterans, active service members and their families in Toronto and Cincinnati access treatment for mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Having Joey not just jump on the bandwagon to help our veterans but the fact he wants to get involved and help families as well certainly speaks to the type of person that he is,” Canadian-born Gulf War veteran Michael Newcombe told mlb.com during the foundation’s launch in December 2013. “We’re trying to do our best to provide genuine help,” Votto said at the time. “I’ve been so lucky. I’ve received support in my life. I want to let people know I am part of the community and the community helps one another.”
While announcing Votto’s unprecedented fourth straight Tip O’Neil Award as Canada’s best baseball player in 2013, Scott Crawford of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame paid tribute to the pride of Etobicoke: “Joey Votto is not only a superstar on the field, but he’s also an inspiration and a difference-maker away from the ballpark.”
The 10-year contract extension Votto signed with the Reds in 2012 made him the highest-paid Canadian baseball player ever, and a rarity in pro sports in that he will likely play in the same city his entire career. Fans applauded Votto’s humble brilliance by voting him the “Face of the MLB” in 2013.
But fame and fortune haven’t changed Votto’s approach. He still logs countless hours in the batting cage, on the field and in the community. He still has, in the words of Toronto Star sports reporter Mark Zwolinski, “a relentless determination to be better.” Or as Votto himself put it: “I want to be great at what I do. I take a lot of pride in it. And I try not to sell myself short in my work and preparation.”
Driven by the same determination and intensity he displayed at Connorvale, the hardest-working man in baseball will no doubt achieve his patented brand of understated excellence—on the field and off—for many seasons to come.