Joey Votto has a couple of reputations throughout baseball.
Players – like Kris Bryant, for one – will tell you he’s one of the best ever to play the game, and they’d be mostly right. After all, since his first full professional season in 2008, his 52.7 WAR is second best in all of baseball, behind only Mike Trout.
While Fans – like us – will poke fun of his bad-boy side:
Joey Votto: Baseball's favorite villain.
(volume) pic.twitter.com/GZ7ZrQ9tBw— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) January 13, 2017
But maybe under that rough-and-tough exterior, there’s a bit of a softie. I mean, look at what he did after he launched his 34th home run of the season earlier today:
The world needs more people like Joey Votto. pic.twitter.com/3wg2l4Ob8h
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2017
He ran over to the net, gave that young fan a high five and one of the coolest souvenirs you can ever get at a sporting event … a slugger’s bat. They don’t give those up easily, so if you get one, you cherish it.
What a lucky kid, and what a great guy.