Joey Votto draws ire from Dodgers fans for stomping paper airplane
Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto hates fun. Either that, or he loves playing the heel in front of opposing fans.
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Either way, Votto’s antics were on display Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. During a pitching change in the seventh inning, some of the Dodgers faithful decided to throw a paper airplane onto the playing field. It landed near first base, and Votto wasn’t too happy about it.
Wow! That is an emphatic stomp. Joey Votto has no time for your fun and entertainment, baseball fans. He’s all about being serious.
As expected, Votto was roundly booed for the move.
That wasn’t all. You see, Dodgers fans have long memories. The next time Votto came to the plate, the Dodgers faithful decided to give him a new nickname.
If you listen to the broadcast very closely, you can hear the chant during Votto’s ninth inning at-bat. He flies out on the first pitch, so the fans were only able to get through the chant twice, but it still happened!
It’s not often you hear an “airplane stomper” chant break out at a baseball game, so we’re going to give the Dodgers fans points for creativity on this one. They could have just booed Votto again, but they opted for a much better strategy.
As far as Votto is concerned, we think he’s playing to the crowd a bit. He pulled off a similar move in Philadelphia this season, refusing to toss a ball into the stands and then taunting Phillies fans. Following that contest, Votto said he was just having fun with the opposing crowd.
That seems to be the case here, as Votto evens gives a slight smile after the stomp. That smile entices Adrian Gonzalez to make a two-thumbs down gesture at first, getting the crowd more riled up about what they just witnessed.
[Elsewhere: Chris Sale went off … on himself following Tuesday’s poor performance]
It’s also possible Votto just feeds off the boos. Hey, plenty of wrestlers have made a career out of playing the heel. Maybe Votto will be the first major-league baseball player to employ the strategy.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
