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Reds first baseman Joey Votto, one of the best players in baseball, does many things well -- get on base and hit for power, for instance. He also has -- as previously chronicled in this space -- an almost impossible knack for not hitting infield pop-ups.
According to FanGraphs Votto has exactly 12 infield pop-ups since 2007 (the back end of available batted-ball data) and just three (!) since the end of the 2009 season. In fact, Votto went the entire 2010 campaign without hitting an infield fly. Stupid, is what they call that.
And that brings us to this GIF, which comes to us courtesy of bearded cavalier C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer ...
That, appreciators of baseball, was a migratory and endangered beast rarely glimpsed in captivity: a Joey Votto infield pop-up. This one went down Tuesday night at Wrigley Field in an eventual Reds win in extras.
Even if you weren't there in person, say that you were. For one day Joey Votto infield pop-ups will exist only within the constraints of our civilization's oral tradition.
