The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame presented Joey Votto with the 2012 Tip O’Neill Award on Friday at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.
The St. Marys, Ont.-based shrine presents this trophy annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.
In 2012, Votto was selected to his third consecutive all-star game and registered more walks (94) and doubles (44) than any other Canadian. He also tied for the National League lead and placed second respectively in those two offensive categories and topped the Senior Circuit in intentional walks with 18 – all of this despite missing seven weeks of the season with a knee injury.
His .474 on-base percentage, .567 slugging percentage and .337 batting average were also the best among Canadian big leaguers. Defensively, Votto was a Gold Glove finalist and he topped National League first basemen with 116 assists.
Hall of Fame board members John Starzynski and Phil Parkinson, Hall director of operations Scott Crawford and longtime volunteer Paul Podsadecki trekked to Cincinnati to present the award. Their trip also included stops in Cleveland to visit B.C. native Ryan Dempster (who was with the visiting Red Sox) and Pittsburgh where they met with Montreal native Russell Martin.
It was a great trip and a great honour to present Joey with this award. He is such a great person and amazing ball player!
Glad you had a good time. Thanks for the comment.