Joey Votto Saved The Day For A Young Fan After Getting Ejected In The First Inning Of Reds-Padres

Sports just mean more when you’re younger, and sometimes in very different ways. Which is why Joey Votto getting thrown out of a Reds-Padres game on Saturday was a disaster for a young Votto superfan named Abigail whose plight went viral online.

On Saturday night, Votto was ejected in the top of the first inning along with Reds manager David Bell for arguing a called third strike when the third base umpire said he offered at a 1-2 pitch outside of the zone.

Votto was heated, and had to be restrained by his manager as he yelled at multiple umpires. It was quite a scene. Getting ejected that early over balls and strikes is rare, and it happened to be the worst possible time to get tossed for a fan attending their first major league game.

The face of the young girl really says it all, as she’s clearly upset that the guy on her shirt had an extremely short outing at Petco Park. The Reds social media team reached out to the family on Twitter in an attempt to make things right, and Votto himself did the job before the game was over. A few innings later, the young girl had an autographed baseball with a very special note penned on one side.

“Joey Votto is SO KIND- he signed this amazing ball for her!!” the tweet said. And the note is pretty succinct: “I am sorry I didn’t play the entire game.”

It’s a hilarious message out of context, but the perfect gift for someone who — despite the ejection — got an extremely special moment with their favorite player on Saturday. Votto probably is very sorry, both for Abigail and the fact that he didn’t get to finish what was a 7-5 loss to San Diego. But at least Abigail got some popcorn and a signed baseball. Pretty good night at the ballpark if you ask us.