The Starchives of Joey Votto: Flaming baseball bats, Toronto chess clubs and plenty of hardware

Joey Votto, who retired this week after a 17-year major-league career, has been a familiar face to Toronto Star readers since he was in high school in 2002.
The Etobicoke native, one of Canada’s best baseball players, was a six-time all-star who won the 2010 National League MVP and the Lou Marsh award twice as Canada’s top athlete in voting by journalists across the country. (The award, since renamed the Northern Star, is given out annually by the Star).
Toronto Star archives show that Votto’s name has appeared in 448 stories in this newspaper. The first time was just a passing mention in an April 12, 2002 article about MLB draft prospects from the GTA. Votto’s picture first appeared two months later, carrying a baseball bat on fire, after he was a unanimous choice in the Toronto Star’s annual feature of the GTA’s best high school baseball players in 2002. The story touted him as the city’s newest millionaire after he signed his first contract with the Cincinnati Reds, where he eventually spent his entire big-league career.
Here’s what was written in some other stories on him that have appeared in the Star (with web link to the full story): 
June 25, 2008: Votto returns to his Etobicoke baseball roots after a year and a half in the majors and spends an off-day offering pointers to kids.
In his rookie season, Votto rocketed to fame when he hit three home runs on April 7, to become only the third Canadian major leaguer to do so — joining Larry Walker and Justin Morneau — and the first as a rookie. “I expected to play in the big leagues when I was drafted,” said Votto, who was selected out of Richview Collegiate by the Reds in the second round, 44th overall, in the 2002 draft. “In the minors, I had some success and … when I was called up, there hasn’t been a time when I felt overwhelmed by being here (major leagues), or that I didn’t belong here.”
Oct. 15, 2010: The reason Richview roots for red.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was Richview Collegiate’s highest achieving alum — at the moment. But you wouldn’t know it by touring the school’s phys. ed. wing, where everyday objects double as Joey Votto monuments. See the bent basketball rim in the boys’ gym? That’s where Votto, a former point guard, would slam. The weight room across the hall? That’s where he pumped iron nearly every day after school. And the phys. ed display case? It’s filling with Votto press clippings, tacked to a bulletin board alongside old photos of him.
Dec. 14, 2010: Columnist Dave Feschuk argues Votto was a deserving Lou Marsh award winner, even though the NL MVP thought a hockey player would get it after Canada won gold at the Vancouver Olympics.
Despite a cast of homegrown athletic talent that did this country proud in a breakthrough Olympic year, Votto was the deserving winner of the circa-1936 trophy. Thanks to a memorable season in which he was credited with carrying the Cincinnati Reds to an unexpected playoff berth, the 27-year-old who grew up in Etobicoke was also the National League’s MVP and, by many measurements, the best hitter in the game.
Aug. 22, 2016: Columnist Richard Griffin makes the case for Jays to trade for Votto.
Votto’s continuing presence with the struggling Reds in a smaller baseball market makes no sense. Votto is owed about $182 million guaranteed through the 2023 season, including a $7-million buyout for 2024. The 32-year-old Etobicoke native maxes out at $25 million for his peak six years, from 2018 to 2023, and the last time discussions were in progress the Reds were expected to eat some of that salary. There are many reasons for such a bold Jays move.
Dec. 12, 2017: Columnist Bruce Arthur on Votto winning his second Lou Marsh trophy:
Since 1936, the Lou Marsh has gone to hockey players 13 times; to figure skaters, nine; to Olympic athletes more than anyone. Baseball? Votto is just the third, after Ferguson Jenkins and (Larry) Walker, and the first to repeat. He was one of those Canadians who didn’t end up on skates, who belong to the tribes that grow every year in the shadow of the hockey monoculture, as this country diversifies beyond the sticks-and-pucks-and-heart machine.
Aug. 12, 2021: Columnist Gregor Chisholm argues that Votto belongs in the Hall of Fame:
The product of Etobicoke has been playing this well from the day he stepped onto the field as a 23-year-old rookie in 2007. There were occasional dips in power, but overall he’s been as consistent a performer as anyone over the last decade and a half. This is a guy who led the NL in OBP seven times. With four RBIs on Wednesday, he moved past Pete Rose for the third-most in franchise history at 1,038. Only 52 players in baseball have ever drawn more walks than his 1,260.
Oct. 2, 2021: Joey Votto’s greatest legacy might be the mark he’s made on his youngest fans.
Connection is something Votto has sought throughout his Hall of Fame-worthy career. It’s more than evident in the dozens of viral videos on social media that show the Reds star interacting with fans, usually young ones, in some way or another. “All I see is the opportunity to engage with somebody and if they allow me to engage with them, then I meet them at their level and connect and help in any way,” Votto told the Star in a phone interview. “That’s really all it is, it’s nothing special at all.” But to many people, it is special. Very special.
May 19, 2022: Returning to play in front of a Toronto crowd after COVID-19 restrictions.
“I grew up 11 kilometres from the stadium,” Votto said during a Zoom call this week. “I used to bike downtown all the time. My father worked right down Spadina, across one of the islands. I was always down there working. I was very much a part of downtown Toronto. I have great, great memories of the city, and certainly the Jays.”
Jan. 22, 2023: Votto becomes a regular at a local chess club:
Votto has been dropping in to play chess as he continues to rehab a shoulder injury that has sidelined him from baseball since August. Earlier this month he shared an image with his Instagram followers, more than 134,000, showing him deep into a tense chess match at the Annex location. “Big, big win yesterday,” he wrote in the caption, crediting a barley soup he had for lunch as a catalyst for the victory. 
March 10, 2024: Votto signs minor-league deal with the Jays.
To hear him tell it, Votto was always, in his heart of a hearts, pining to be a Blue Jay. Though in his online departure from Cincy, he did tell fans that he would always be a Cincinnati Red, and those are doubtless the colours he’ll take into the Hall of Fame. But that story arc does scan nicely.
March 18, 2024: Votto hits homer in his first at-bat in a Blue Jays uniform.
The iconic Canadian baller made an eye-popping first impression, debuting for Toronto in a split-squad Grapefruit League game in Clearwater, Fla. on Sunday afternoon and taking a pitch from Phillies ace Zack Wheeler 392 feet over the left-centre wall at BayCare Ballpark. After 17 seasons in the league, you’d think Votto would know his cautious way around a dugout. But the footfall went awry when he returned following his trot around the bases. “I accidentally stepped on a bat in the dugout, rolled my ankle and it hurts like the dickens.”
March 19, 2024: Votto posts heartfelt handwritten apology for past comments criticizing Canadian baseball.
Canadian icon Joey Votto posted a heartfelt, handwritten apology on Monday night for comments he made almost six years ago dismissing Canadian baseball, the Blue Jays and the city of Toronto. While the 2010 National League MVP has previously said sorry for remarks made on a 2018 podcast, it appears the 40-year-old from Mimico was moved to write another apology after seeing his photo on the front page of the Toronto Star on Monday. . . . ”I cringe and am ashamed as I re-write my words … I received, and still receive occasional criticism for my comments, but it was my mother’s disappointment that hurt me the most,” Votto wrote in the social media post Monday.