So Long, Joey.

We'll not see his like again.

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It’s interesting when people decide Joey Votto was, I dunno, different. They don’t mean it in a hitting sense, even as Votto’s approach was indeed different, historically so. They’re not talking about Votto’s ability to get on base, to choose on-base percentage over big swings and bigger flyballs, though Votto’s thinking was iconoclastic on that subject, too.

What they mean, I think, is that Votto didn’t conform to the ballplayer caricature. He didn’t speak in cliches. He was sensitive. He was honest. He could express his feelings openly, he had many, many interests outside the ballpark.

Simply, everything about Joseph Daniel Votto was interesting. He was baseball’s Renaissance Man.