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Cincinnati Reds First Baseman Joey Votto Could Be on a Very Interesting Path to Cooperstown

SI's Tom Verducci shares some interesting stats on the 36-year-old first baseman
Tom Verducci|

May 7th, 2008, a rookie for the Cincinnati Reds named Joey Votto hits three home runs in a game all hit off of different Chicago Cubs pitchers. 

Twelve years later, and before the coronavirus hit, Joey Votto was in line to reach three major milestones this season. 300 homers, 1000 RBI's and 2,000 hits. Impressive numbers, but not automatic entry into the Hall of Fame. 

Other first baseman who have hit those marks include Fred McGriff, Adrian Gonzalez, Paul Konerko and Lee May. But Joey Votto does something that very few in his generation have done so well. Get on base. 

He's led the National League and on-base percentage seven times, and that's helped him to an impressive career OPS plus of 150. Now, Votto is 36 years old. His worst two slugging seasons have come in the last two years and a shortened season will hold down his total career numbers. 

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But Joey Votto may be paving a rather unique path to Cooperstown for a first baseman. Not so much on the slugging, but getting there one base at a time.

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Tom Verducci
TOM VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered Major League Baseball since 1981. He also serves as an analyst for FOX Sports and the MLB Network; is a New York Times best-selling author; and cohosts The Book of Joe podcast with Joe Maddon. A five-time Emmy Award winner across three categories (studio analyst, reporter, short form writing) and nominated in a fourth (game analyst), he is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year winner, two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Verducci is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame, Baseball Writers Association of America (including past New York chapter chairman) and a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1993. He also is the only writer to be a game analyst for World Series telecasts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, with whom he has two children.

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