One July night in Milwaukee, Joey Votto got revenge.
Votto, a first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, watched a video of broadcaster Chris Russo, known as Mad Dog, a few weeks ago and said he and Royals pitcher Zack Greinke were Hall of Famers. I expressed my doubts. Now that he’s given the opportunity to face Russo during an appearance on MLB Network’s “High Heat,” Votto has something special planned.
Standing in a dirty area and wearing a headset, Votto looked into the dugout camera. When asked a question by Russo’s co-host Alanna Rizzo, Votto smiled and answered charmingly. When Russo took his turn, Votto managed only a few sullen syllables in response. Quickly Russo caught up. “That’s fun! “You were so funny today” – Votto went on a minute-long rant like any professional wrestler would.
With big hand gestures and a raised tone, Votto accused Russo of what he believed to be slights toward him and Greinke. “You are ignoring our couple small-market middleWestern baseball players, because we’re not a big city like you!” Votto lectured. His eyes widened as he shouted criticism of Russo’s “Fifth Avenue tie” and “perfectly coiffed Broadway hairdo.”
Finally, the climax. “Not everyone can be the next Roger Peckinpaugh!” Votto screamed as he reached a dead-ball era for the former Yankee, which was not good. “You should be ashamed!”
The rant, which Votto and Reds broadcast sideline reporter Jim Day had been rehearsing for weeks (including on the team plane that confused more than a few Reds employees), went viral. One of baseball’s funniest characters has been delivered again.
Votto, 40, who didn’t embrace social media until March 2020, now regularly posts content to her more than 300,000 followers via Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. Like the ambush on Russo, Votto’s post was carefully conceived and executed.
Last winter, before competing in a Toronto chess tournament, he posed in flashy designer outfits including a puffy vest, fur jumpsuit and expensive sunglasses he had purchased for the event. In June, just before returning from shoulder surgery, he performed a skit in which he was asked to return to the field after a student scolded him from the driver’s seat of a Cincinnati school bus.
It’s no surprise that Votto, who hit a home run in his return from the disabled list on Sunday, approached social media with forethought and planning. He has long been known as one of the most meticulous players in the game. What is new is his willingness to put any energy into it. For many years, he pursued his career like an acolyte, devoting his attention solely to swinging the bat. “He was so focused on his craft as a baseball player that he seemed to have little time for anything else,” said Zack Cozart, his teammate at Cincinnati for seven seasons.
Votto is more committed to his craft than ever, but his production has suffered this year due to persistent shoulder issues. But now, as his career enters its final downhill stretch, Votto has let loose.
Votto said everything changed after the 2017 season.
It’s been a really good year. The 33-year-old played in every game, led the majors in on-base percentage and finished second in voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. But he wasn’t happy. The Reds were rebuilding and his closest teammates, Cozart, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto, were traded. He was less than halfway through his 10-year, $225 million contract extension. His expensive furniture was left behind because the moving company couldn’t take it.
“I felt very isolated,” Votto said. “Friends at home were having kids and teammates were going somewhere else. I was a little tired of feeling like I couldn’t be myself.”
To expand his world beyond his 24-square-foot batting box (being himself always took some effort), he hired a Spanish teacher, took up chess, and learned jiu-jitsu. “I don’t have any talents other than what I do at the plate,” Votto said. “There is no doubt about that.” Those who have witnessed his comedic timing or heard him speak Spanish or French may disagree, but Votto sees it as an outlet, not a skill. “All these things make me feel that I am not just one being, because I really am one being.”
That paradox—his cool-headed devotion to baseball and his surprising profusion of interests—made Votto a baseball man of mystery. He was polite to his new teammates, but not sociable.
Cozart recalled Votto’s harsh assessment of him early in his MLB days. “If you hit the ball like that, you have no chance of playing in this league,” Votto said after watching Cozart repeatedly hit the top of the batting cage. It was a splash of ice water for Cozart. “That’s Joey Votto telling me I’m terrible,” he thought. But he soon recognized that it was Votto’s way of helping him. Cozart now considers Votto one of his favorite teammates. In 2017, Cozart’s last with the Reds, Votto made good on a public promise by buying the shortstop a donkey when he was named an All-Star.
The donkey episode showcased Votto’s character, as did a 2014 hit for MLB Network in which he dressed up as a mounted police officer, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (Votto was born in Canada.) But the notion of Joey Votto being a social media star would have seemed ridiculous to most people who knew him at the time.
“There were times when I said, ‘No, I’m not going to bother him today,’” said Day, who has covered Votto’s entire career. “He didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk.”
Now, when Votto gets playful, Day is one of his favorite people.
As he gets older, Votto becomes more comfortable playing a key role.
One day earlier this year, Reds prospect Matt McLain stood in the clubhouse of the Class AAA Louisville Bats and started swearing at a game of chess. Behind him, undiscovered, was Votto, who was with the club on a rehabilitation mission. Votto could have demurred and substituted a minor leaguer, but instead laughed and involved McLain in the gag.
He set up a secret camera to record a chess match between himself and infielder Alex McGarry. In the resulting video, the contest is in full swing when McLain walks by and defiantly knocks all the pieces to the floor. McLain said McGarry took no part in the act and that his initial anger was genuine. But most people were convinced that Votto was joking about himself.
McLain is now one of several young players leading a Reds team hoping to clinch one of the National League’s three wild card spots in the playoffs. They are a team with so much young talent that it’s now easy to see what was once hard to imagine: a bright Reds future without Votto.
Instead of being left behind, Votto decided to adapt.
This includes learning the rhythms of a generation of players who are less spooky and more serious than your own. Blunt and off-kilter doesn’t land.
“You can’t be that stubborn old man in the locker room,” Cozart said. And all these young people will look at you like, ‘This guy is a grumpy old guy,’” Cozart said. “He’s trying to be hip again.”
This potential of the Reds reinforces what attracts Votto to the game. “I love a challenge, I love competing, and I love feeling valued, as if I’m a helpful piece of the puzzle,” Votto said. “So I think there’s still something left.”
He had doubted it. A day before he sat in the away dugout for an interview in Phoenix earlier this season, he suffered a major blow. His left shoulder, which required surgery midway through last season and cost him a lot of money, has put him back on the IL. The timing was ominous. Votto is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Reds have a $20 million option and a $7 million buyout for next season. With less than a month left to play, it seemed possible that he would play his final game. One in red.
In 51 games between two IL stints this year, he hit just .200 with a .303 on-base percentage. Cincinnati is loaded with young talent and could decide to move on.
These recent setbacks have sparked thoughts of retirement, Votto admitted. “There were times when I thought, ‘Should I finish it?’ Should I beat everyone up?’” he said. But a recent conversation with his mother made it clear. He’s back on the field and hopes to be a Red for life.
If the Reds decide otherwise, he gets it. “I’ve loved every minute here,” he said. “Seriously. It was an honor even during the cold times.” Whatever happens, Votto insists it’s not over yet.
“This is the first time in my career that I realize I love what I do,” he said.
After 20 years as a professional, devoting all his time to baseball, Votto was just beginning to enjoy it.
In Cincinnati, Votto learned to accept the icon and label even though it did not apply to him. Sharing more information about himself and the signed memorabilia he has hidden around Cincinnati while providing location clues on social media is Votto’s way of returning the love. “All I really want to do is give,” he said. “I took too much.”
But he is not an open book. Votto remains protective of his privacy, and although he discussed his father’s 2008 death on social media last year, he has little interest in revealing that or any other part of his personal life to the public. He’ll be more comfortable sharing his personality than many expected, but he’ll also wistfully look forward to the day when he’ll disappear into anonymity.
“I’m really fantasizing about this,” he said. “I dream of playing my last game and basically stopping everything. Say goodbye to social media and just walk away. Like I’m done. I’m done with baseball and I’m done with being in the public eye.”
He’s not there yet, but that day is coming. For now, he’s content playing baseball in the Midwest, another small market. Enjoy him while you can.
