“In 2002, the Cincinnati Reds selected me with the 44th pick in the Maj...” — Joey Votto Quote

In 2002, the Cincinnati Reds selected me with the 44th pick in the Major League Baseball draft. At 18 years of age, I began my professional career, traveling around America on buses, growing up in clubhouses that were predominantly divided between white Americans and Latinos.

There's nothing more fun than standing at the plate and hitting the ball really hard, see the ball go over the fence. It's really a satisfying feeling. It always makes you feel like you're doing your job.

I'm all about neutralizing talent and making things fair, and evaluating a player based on what he does all the way around.

Cincinnati is a prettier city than people give it credit for, I like it here, like the people. They're so polite.

People have to understand one thing: at the age of 18, I arrived at a dream club like Manchester United. It was a dream come true. But, even at that moment, I was thinking about playing in England for some years and then going to play in Spain. Even at that time I was thinking that way, and I always gave 100% everything.

By about age 12, I would prefer to stay up and watch the stars than go to sleep. I started learning. I started going to the library and reading. But it was initially just watching the stars from my bedroom that I really did. There was just nothing as interesting in my life as watching the stars every night.

But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.

Always, however brutal an age may actually have been, its style transmits its music only.