Joey Votto story

He plays for the Reds, grew up in our neighbourhood and was friends my with my three boys. They played baseball at the local school and road hockey at the tennis courts.

His dad died last August--he was only 52--and it was so difficult for Joey that not only did he have serious depression, he checked himself into the hospital twice because of panic attacks.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/article/655653

"I wish I hadn't lost my father so young," Votto said. "I'm the oldest brother. I feel like I'm responsible for my family now. Maybe I have a proclivity for depression or anxiety, whatever it is, but I have dealt with, for me, abnormal circumstances being a major league ballplayer, a young ballplayer and also dealing with my father and my family."

He has three younger brothers. The eldest is around 15 and there are 9 year old twins.

His mom Wendy is a sommelier at one of Toronto's best Italian restaurants.

He's a good kid and it took some guts to talk about this publicly.

Jays beat the Reds tonight 8-2 in interleague play

 

Good story and a sad story at the same time. Good for him opening up though. In this day and age you'd think people would do that more often, but I guess it's still somewhat taboo especially for someone in the public eye.

Wish him nothing but success.

 

JR, tell Joey I'm a REALLY good listener.

Seriously, I'm glad he seems to have done something to handle the grief and pressure. I hope he continues to overcome.