“If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press’ll think you’re colorful.”

I was completely absorbed by Joey Votto’s written commentary on an oral history of Joey Votto.

Votto is nearing the end of a pretty successful career. I have wondered whether it would amount to a Hall of Fame career, but he’s pretty darn close; JAWS has him as the number 12 first baseman of all time, and everyone ahead of him (apart from Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera) is in the Hall. Most of the players just behind him who aren’t in the Hall are either still active or have steroid lines on their resume. That said, Votto has never done well in the post-season award rankings, and the Reds really missed their chance during Joey’s peak years in the early 2010s. He’s also in a position where he could play himself out of the HoF if he turns in another couple of negative WARP seasons. His status as the third best Canadian player of all time and as a colorful clubhouse guy will probably weigh to his advantage. The classic 2006 Baseball Prospectus assessment:

Another marginal prospect who gets more attention than he deserves because he`s among the best of the sorry lot in the Reds organization. Votto has ball-crushing power, but, it`s of the classic long swing/slow bat variety that will get nullified by pitching in the high minors if he can`t adjust. At 22, he`s spent two and a half years in A-ball and needs to make his move in 2006. If you want an ominous sign, he failed to impress the AFL last year.