Etobicoke’s first baseman Joey Votto grew up in Mimico and loved Etobicoke.
One of Etobicoke’s top baseball player has returned home after years in the U.S. to play with his hometown team the Toronto Blue Jays.
Joey Votto, a veteran first-baseman grew up in Mimico and played for about 17 seasons with the Cincinatti Reds and was a former National League Most Valuable Player (MLP).
The former Richview Collegiate Institute student was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
“I am excited about the opportunity to work my way back to the Major Leagues,” Votto said on social media. “It’s even sweeter to attempt this while wearing the uniform of my hometown team, the Toronto Blue Jays.”
Votto has won a long list of trophies and accolades so far in his baseball career.
His time with Cincinnati included many trophies and six all-star appearances. The Reds declined his $20-million (U.S.) option for 2024, making the 40-year-old a free agent.
He has been working out near his Toronto home as he remained unsigned weeks into spring training.
Votto received a non-roster invite (NRI) to play with the Jays and is not on the club’s 40-man roster to attend major-league camp at spring training and compete for a roster spot.
During his MVP season in 2010, Votto hit 37 home runs and won the Lou Marsh Award, now named the Northern Star Award, as Canada’s top athlete for two years straight.
Joey Votto played in major parks across the U.S. but his heart never left Canada.
Votto is the most famous product of the Etobicoke Rangers led by Bob Smyth, who also coached him at Richview. His journey to the big leagues began when his parents, Joseph and Wendy, 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.
“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.”
Votto, dubbed the ‘pride of Etobicoke,’ also won the Hank Aaron Award as the National League’s best hitter and took home the 2011 Gold Glove for his stellar defense at first base.
Joey Votto was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
His mom was a sommelier and local restaurant manager and his dad was a chef and baseball fan who died at age 52 in 2008.
Votto enrolled in high school at Richview Collegiate Institute in 1997. He played for the Etobicoke Rangers baseball program and then signed a letter of intent to play college baseball for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in 2002 and at the age of 18 began his career, traveling around the U.S. on buses.
He was proud of being from Mimico and let people know his background.
“I was raised in Mimico,” the first baseman wrote. “It is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.”
He was at one time Canada’s highest-paid salaried athlete with a 10-year, $248-contract extension.
Votto, for all his success, remained in Etobicoke and has been known to attend bantam games at Queensway Park. Many of the ballers in the Royal York Road area are proud of his achievements.