The Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto is swinging a bat full of hope these days — and tying up records in the process.
As of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Votto currently is tied with former Red Frank Robinson with 324 career home runs, good for second on the franchise leaderboard. Votto smacked one into left-center during the fourth inning Aug. 8, breaking his 16-game streak with zero homers. It was Votto’s 29th dinger for the season, the most of anyone on the team.
Chances are good that Votto will slap at least one more home run before the regular season is over, to move into second place alone. And then Votto will have just one Red to beat for the club’s all-time homer record — Johnny Bench.
The legendary catcher retired with 389 home runs under his belt in 2,158 games. Votto, who has played in 1,882 games, would need 65 more homers to reach Bench before calling it quits. If Votto hit an average of 25 home runs per year after the 2021 season, he would catch Bench sometime during the 2024 season. Votto is 38 years old as of Sept. 10, so keeping that pace is somewhat unlikely but not impossible.
Votto has reached a number of significant milestones this season. In August, the first baseman nabbed his 2,000th career hit, something only four other Reds players have done.
Earlier, Votto achieved 1,000 runs batted in, becoming only the second National League/American League player to achieve 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 1,000 RBIs all in the same season.
Baseball experts already are calling Votto a lock for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, commending his hitting, on-base percentage, slugging and low strikeouts.
The Cincinnati Reds kick off a series with the St. Louis Cardinals (the Reds’ supposed rivals) at 8:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The two teams are battling for the second National League Wild Card slot.
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This article appears in Sep 1-14, 2021.