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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > September > 12 > Entry
Teddy Ballgame left impression on Votto
MANY PEOPLE, me included, believe Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of all time - better than Pete Rose, better than Ty Cobb.
When I first began playing Little League, I insisted on wearing ‘9,’ I insisted on playing left field and I persisted in using a bat with ‘Ted Williams’ scribbled on the barrel. I was going to be the next Ted Williams. It took me about five games to realize that wasn’t going to happen. Not ever.
But Williams remained my all-time favorite player and remains so to this day, which gives Joey Votto and me something in common. He, too, is infatuated with the legend and lore that is Teddy Ballgame, The Splendid Splinter, The Thumper, The Kid (he led baseball in nicknames, too).
I understand my feelings about Williams. He was playing when I was a kid and usually pounding the bejabbers out of my Cleveland Indians, whose manager, Lou Boudreau, devised the Williams shift that put three infielders to the right of second base, the first manager to use that shift.
But Votto? He was born 23 years AFTER Ted Williams played his last game in 1960.
“When I was young, I just couldn’t help to gravitate toward the greatest of all time,” said Votto. “I couldn’t relate to Babe Ruth - not that I CAN relate to Ted Williams - but there was something different about him. He was a legend and a great American Hero, even though I’m not American. He was just an amazing person to read about and to watch film of and to hear stories about. I don’t know what to tell you other than I wish I had got to see him. One of my bigger baseball regrets was that he passed away before I inched up the minor-league chain. I definitely would have taken advantage of meeting him during one of the spring trainings.”
Asked about what books he has read about Williams, Votto smiled and said, “I’ve read them all. I really have. All of ‘em. I went through a phase there. I don’t really read much about baseball now because I don’t do much baseball reading because I treat it as a job. When I was younger he was like a super hero to me and I read everything about him - what he would do with his eyes, the way he acted, the way he sacrificed four years of his life to go to war. He could have tacked on another 175 home runs and he might have set the record.”
WHEN THE Cincinnati Reds drafted Votto in the second round of the 2002 draft, then scouting director Kasey McKeon (Jack McKeon’s son) had to nearly throw fists at a couple of other scouts with the Reds to get Votto drafted.
“I actually kept Votto hidden,” said McKeon, now a scout for the Washington Nationals. “Nobody knew about him. He wasn’t listed in the Top 200 by Baseball America so I took some hits from fans on chat rooms and blogs for drafting this guy nobody ever heard of.”
McKeon also wanted the Reds to draft pitcher Scott Kazmir in the first round, but then GM Jim Bowden wanted pitcher Chris Gruler. Bowden prevailed. McKeon lost that one. Well, Gruler never pitched and may have had a bad arm when he signed. And Kazmir became a star. So McKeon was right on that one, too.
THE LATEST (yeah, another ‘latest’) on Jay Bruce?
“Getting close,” said manager Dusty Baker. “He is available now to pinch-run and play defense. I’d rather wait, though. He looks like he is on target to play some time at mid-week, trying for Tuesday. They said he won’t completely heal until over the winter. So waiting a couple of more weeks for his side to heal is not going to help. I’ll have to space him with his playing time. He did let it out yesterday (Saturday) and swung pretty good.”
Bruce, Orlando Cabrera and Jim Edmonds all have side injuries that won’t completely heal before the season is over and Baker said, “You can add Chris Heisey and Arthur Rhodes to that list (of guys who won’t heal by season’s end).”
Baker smiled and shook his head, then said, “At this time of year if something is not wrong with you, you probably didn’t play very much. In order to win, somebody - everybody - has to overextend some. You certainly don’t want to hurt anybody, that’s the last thing you want, but as a player this late you have to overextend some. You think about guys like Curt Schilling and Kirk Gibson. Like they told us when I played, you have all winter to rest and heal. You tell them, ‘But my legs are about to fall off,’ and they’d say, ‘You’ll be all right. You have all winter to rest and heal.”
AS HAS BEEN his habit on day games after night games, other than the St. Louis series, Baker rested Scott Rolen Sunday and had Miguel Cairo at third.
“I have to keep ‘em fresh, preserve him, because we’re going into a period of playing 20 days in a row,” said Baker. There is another day game Thursday and Baker said, “Depends on the standings whether he plays Thursday. We have a big week coming up on the road because it is a 10-dayer (three in Houston, three in Milwaukee, day off, three in San Diego). That’s a triangle trip - Houston to Milwaukee to San Diego, a triangle. Shouldn’t you have the last stop on a trip closest to home?”
What’s bad (but really, really good) for Reds fans is that the team most likely will clinch its first division title since 1995 on that road trip.
ONE OF MY all-time favorite Reds, Kent Mercker, worked the radio broadcast Sunday. I love the guy because he was one of the most intelligent players I ever covered and one of the most humorous.
Two of my favorite lines from him were: “You know it is time to retired when you jog in from the bullpen and your breasts jiggle.” And, asked what he planned to do during his retirement, Mercker said, “I’m going to turn vodka into urine.”
On Sunday, he looked at me and said, “Do you think that it is any coincidence that the Reds are doing so good after I retired? Not a coincidence, is it? It was addition by subtraction?”
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By John G
September 14, 2010 9:01 AM | Link to this
It’s always fun to read about current fans reactions to players from the past. Ted Williams wasn’t a saint when he played for the Red Sox. He certainly wasn’t as big a jerk as Manny but he wasn’t well liked by the media and wasn’t always the fan favorite he became late in his career and life. He was unique and because of his need to serve his country during war he gave up a big chunk of his baseball years to military service. If he had been the selfish athlete of today he would not have missed those years and his baseball numbers would have been astounding.
By Buckfan69
September 14, 2010 3:55 AM | Link to this
How refreshing to see a young guy who realizes the world didn’t begin when he was born! Ted Williams has always been my favorite player too; this is just one more reason for me to like Joey Votto.
By Carol Jennings
September 13, 2010 5:56 PM | Link to this
We rode the bus with Ted to the Hall of Fame ceremony. One of many thrills during that unforgettable weekend.
By Splendid Splinter
September 13, 2010 5:15 PM | Link to this
THE MAN, was STAN. Best ever.
By John G
September 13, 2010 11:47 AM | Link to this
Ted Williams and George Brett were the two best pure hitters I ever saw. As old as he is, Brett could probably bat .300 today. Reds have had a great season but they need to do something about the closer. Coco, like Harang, is done.
By Cecil
September 13, 2010 9:08 AM | Link to this
My brother was big fan of Ted, I never saw him play but agree he is probably greatest hitter of all time. I just hope this is not the “Bermuda triangle” I will be in Houston Friday & Sat. to see them. Chapman needs to close.
By AP-FLORIDA
September 13, 2010 8:25 AM | Link to this
Everyone,those in the know, think that the Reds have the division clinched. This scares me. How can we keep Baker????
By AP-FLORIDA
September 13, 2010 8:21 AM | Link to this
How long will it take for Rusty to learn about Codero? I smell a swoon!!!!!
By J
September 12, 2010 10:01 PM | Link to this
It’s a stretch now to say if they ever WILL clinch the division. Just a sad game tonight. If they can’t play any better against the freakin Pirates, I don’t see how they can beat anyone else. They’re lucky they won the 2 they did.
By Splendid Splinter
September 12, 2010 7:36 PM | Link to this
That today’s players think they have “all winter to rest and heal”, is part of the problem with their getting “hurt” so much. If they trained harder for MOST of that time, they’d be in better shape and less easily “hurt”. John Bench said when his era got hurt, they wrapped it and played. Too many wimpy types cluttering the dugouts these days.Too many illegitimate “injuries”.
By irabird
September 12, 2010 7:02 PM | Link to this
Great stuff on Votto, Hal. There’s also an amazing interview in the latest ‘Sporting News’—I had no idea Joey ever spoke that many words in his life. I suspect you’ve read it already.
By Kyle
September 12, 2010 4:12 PM | Link to this
Whatever we’re paying Cordero, it’s too much. This team is out in the first round without a closer. Pathetic.
By AmericanSoldier
September 12, 2010 3:51 PM | Link to this
I can’t understand why Mr. McCoy couldn’t write some on Pete Rose’s night last night - great part on Votto and his following Teddy Ballgame. I wish he’d apply for American citizenship.