TORONTO — Joey Votto was not scheduled to be in the lineup for the Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday, but in the morning, Bisons bench coach Donnie Murphy asked the 40-year-old if he would like to pinch hit in the game.
Votto thought about it. “And I said, ‘I’m available, but not really.’”
That wasn’t the singular moment Votto decided to retire from playing baseball, a decision he announced Wednesday evening. In reality, it was a series of moments. The prolonged recovery from injury, the declining performance, the lack of improvement.
Then there was a lunch he had with his family this week. A simple, nice gathering with loved ones — his mom, brothers, niece and nephew — that felt good, Votto said, especially after spending 127 nights alone in a hotel room this season, many of which were spent rehabbing a stubborn ankle injury suffered during his first — and only — at-bat in spring training after signing a minor-league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“I can exchange the time alone for good performance, but I wasn’t performing well enough to be able to make that transaction,” he said.
So, the reasons had accumulated, and Votto had been contemplating the end of his storied, potentially Hall of Fame-worthy career. And then, on Wednesday morning, he passed up on an opportunity at a professional at-bat and he thought, “How are you going to represent this sport?”
“The fans come to watch hunger and aggression. They come to watch people playing at their very, very best and I’m passing on professional at-bats?” he said. “That’s enough. That’s enough.”
And so that was that. Votto retired. He recorded a video from Buffalo’s Sahlen Field’s parking lot explaining his decision and posted it on social media, putting an end to a terrific career that spanned 17 MLB seasons — now all with the Cincinnati Reds — that included an MVP, six All-Star appearances and a Gold Glove.
Joey Votto announces that he is officially retiring from baseball. 🐐⚾ #Reds pic.twitter.com/UZhZE4Pu4m
— Cincinnati 💔 (@CincyProblems) August 21, 2024
Then, he made his way to Toronto. The plan had been to arrive in time to watch the Blue Jays, his hometown team, play the Reds, his former team, in their series finale at the Rogers Centre. But car trouble intervened. So, instead, after the Reds won 11-7, Votto made his way to the stadium’s visiting clubhouse to greet his former teammates.
Afterward, Votto, wearing a simple grey t-shirt and shorts, sat, fittingly, in a batting cage not unlike the many across the league he’d spent countless hours in, and spoke to the media on his decision to end his career.
“I was not waxing and waning, but I had moments where I was like, ‘Is this the right thing to do? And do I want the organization to tell me that I’m done?’” Votto said. “And I just decided, you’ve played long enough, you can interpret, what’s going on. And I was awful. I was awful down there. And the trend was not fast enough, and I didn’t feel at any point in time like I was anywhere near major-league ready.
“I can say to the very last pitch I was giving my very all. But there’s an end for all athletes. Time is undefeated, as they say.”
Hours after making the decision, Votto said he had “zero regrets” but he was “genuinely saddened” that he never got to play for the Blue Jays, the organization he rooted for as a kid growing up in Toronto’s west end.
“I wanted to play a year in Toronto at home, in front of family, in front of my country,” he said. “I’m really saddened that I wasn’t able to make it happen, that I wasn’t able to arrive and perform at the Rogers Centre in a Blue Jays uniform representing the city I grew up in, country that I grew up in, and my people.”
“The feeling of playing in front of the fans here would have meant a lot to a lot of people that I’m close to,” he added. “But I’ve taken pride in playing well. I want to play well, and I wasn’t doing that, so I don’t think I would have given them a satisfying experience.”
When Votto first signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays back in March, Toronto fans were overjoyed at the thought of one of the best players Canada has produced suiting up for the country’s ball club. But after he homered in his first Grapefruit League at-bat with the Blue Jays on March 17, Votto rolled his ankle in the dugout. What was supposed to be a day-to-day injury turned into a months-long setback.
First pitch swinging 😮
It’s @JoeyVotto‘s FIRST homer in a #BlueJays uniform! pic.twitter.com/1cVrONpJ0N
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 17, 2024
While rehabbing his ankle, Votto would sit in his hotel room at night watching Blue Jays games on TV, hoping he could gain insight into the team he was aiming to one day join. But around the three-month mark of his stalling recovery, when he still couldn’t run, swing or jump well enough to play in the big leagues, Votto stopped watching the Blue Jays.
“Because it hurt so much,” he said. “Because I wanted to so desperately be a part of this team. How can I fit in with the guys? How can I complement so and so? How can I help in any sort of way? And it just took so long to recover that I found that challenging.”
When Votto finally did make it back into games, his performance was far from the standard he had set over his career. In 31 games split over three minor-league levels, he slashed .165/.298/.271.
“I did the very best I could with my rehab. I did the best I could in my game competition,” said Votto, who had praise for the Blue Jays training staff as well as the minor-league coaching staff. “I was really proud of that, but I just was not good enough. And that’s the end of it. I’m a big fan of the UFC and I watch fighters that retire at the right time and stay too long, and I hear the commentary from the commentary crowd, and I just think, I want to make sure I retire at the right time. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I retired too late.”
A few of his Reds teammates, along with his former manager David Bell, said they had hoped that Votto would be playing against them this week. And among Blue Jays fans, there was some faint hope that the club may call up Votto this week, as a sort of gesture to an all-time great.
But from the moment he signed his minor-league deal with the Blue Jays, Votto was adamant that he wanted to earn his place on the major-league team via his performance. He wasn’t interested in a ceremonial call-up.
“This isn’t my organization, so how can I show up and make it my day, my moment? Here’s an at-bat, here’s a game, here’s a stretch of time. To me, it’s disrespectful to the game,” he said. “I also think it’s disrespectful to paying fans that want to see a high-end performance, and I would have given them an awful performance. So truly, I can say that I tried my very best and I just came up short. And I’ve had 22 years of not coming up short, so I guess I’m due.”
(Photo of Joey Votto from spring training: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)
