A Quote by Joey Votto

He would watch every single Reds game. He was the first one to teach me how to play baseball. I played catch with him on a daily basis when I was really young. He was a big fan. He was just in love with what I did and me. He was a great father to me.
When I was a young kid, my father was a big fan of Hollywood movies. He would make me watch movies with him, and he would explain the story and characters to me.
Growing up, I played 'Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball' and just whatever I could get my hands on. When I was really young, I was a big fan of Mario and that type of stuff. I still play videogames now, so it was really cool for me to be able to play as myself on '2K6' or '2K7,' I believe it was, when I was a rookie.
I played against Kobe a lot when I was in high school during the summers, even in college, just being that guy in L.A. coming up. He always gave me advice here and there, and even the smallest things stuck with me. I watched every single thing that Kobe did, every game, every move. He made me a student of the game.
If guys feed off me, that's fine. But I'm going to play my way and I don't change. One hundred percent every single play, every single day. That's just me. And hopefully guys, especially the young guys, feed off of it and hopefully they learn how to be a professional and bring their 'A' game every day.
Summer I was 13, my grandfather and my father taught me how to play golf. I took lessons that summer, and I played every day that summer. I probably would've kept playing, except I realized that girls don't watch golf; they watch tennis. So I let my golf game go dormant and started playing tennis.
My older brother, he did everything. He played baseball, he played basketball. Just being able to watch him as a youngster, wanting to be like him, wanting to play on the team with him and watching those older guys in my neighborhood play sports.
My father and mother have given me so much love, so much support, that it would trivialize their parenthood if I would reduce it just to basketball. But my dad does call me before and after every game. And when we lost a game we shouldn't have, he told me it wasn't my fault. And I appreciated that, because he was trying to pick me up.
I'd love to stay in baseball, but I won't beg. I'd love to work with young umpires. I think I could teach them, help them develop. I can spot flaws, help them get over the hump. You're striving for perfection every game, yet you never achieve it. If baseball wants me, I'm available.
I was lucky enough to train with Carragher and Gerrard, and watch what they did on a daily basis - they never missed a session. I'd look how Carragher played, how he spoke and he was big to follow.
If the Cincinnati Reds were really the first major league baseball team, who did they play?
Dad played with me a great deal, as dads should do, and our chief sport was baseball. He bought me a hardball when I was three years old, and he used to sit in a rocker on the front porch while I sat on the grass in the yard, and we'd play catch by the hour.
I'm at my best when people are depending on me. If it's just on me and I don't have nothing to do, I'm going to be lazy. On the football field, it's every single day, every play, knowing that people are depending on me to make my play. That helps me elevate my game to another level.
I still have a video of my father, which I watch before every game I play for Brazil. It gives me strength, makes me determined.
When I talk to my mates, they all have their opinion and though I'm a professional who's played the game and lived it they still don't agree with me. Every fan thinks they knows best, every fan is passionate about their club and their team and their points are valid because they watch them all the time.
My father loved the single-handed backhand, so to him, that was the main goal; we were always fascinated by that shot. He taught me all the technique and how to structure my game. I was really privileged to have a father like that.
I defend just like my brother Todd lived. He taught me how to play defense by the way he lived his life. I defend like every game is my last game, like anything can be taken away at any moment, and that's what my brother taught me. That's what he always preached to me, so that's how I believe the game should be played.
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