Joey Votto announces his retirement

Joey Votto, the legendary first baseman of the Cincinnati Reds who will be enshrined in Cooperstown as a Hall of Famer one day, just announced via Instagram that he’s ending his comeback attempt within the Toronto Blue Jays organization and will retire from the game of baseball.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joey Votto (@joeyvotto)

Votto, who’ll turn 41 years old in about two and half weeks, saw his option not picked up by the Reds last winter and became a free agent for the first time in his career. After the major arm and shoulder injuries that had plagued him over his final years as a Red, he had to settle for a minor league deal - one that came from the Blue Jays, the team…