Votto Says Father's Death Led to Panic, Disabled List

Now that Joey Votto is back in Toronto with the Reds, he's a little more willing to talk about the circumstances that led to his time on the disabled list with what the team termed "stress-related issues." Tuesday he talked to the Cincinnati Enquirer's John Fay and told him that his father's death last August led to depression and panic attacks that eventually landed him on the disabled list.

I suppose some people will question Votto for this, but when you read his full statement, it's clear that he went through a pretty dark place this spring when his illness and subsequent inner ear infection piled on top of the grief and depression he went through over the winter. It was all just too much for him to juggle with baseball and that's when he went on the disabled list. Part of his statement is after the jump.

I got sick in May. I had the upper respiratory thing and the ear infection. It was taking the time away from baseball and recovering from being sick when for the first time all emotions that had been pushing to the side that had been dealing with and struggling with in the winter hit me. They hit me a hundred times more than I had been dealing with.

[...]

"I spoke to some doctors. They came to the conclusion I was dealing with obviously being depressed and anxiety and panic attacks. They were overwhelming to point where I had to go to the hospital on two separated occasions. Once in San Diego and once – nobody had been told about – but I went to the hospital once in Cincinnati when the team was on the road.

"It was very, very scary and crazy night. I had to call 911 at 3 or 4 in the morning. It was probably the scariest moment I ever dealt with in my life. I went to the hospital that night.

It must've been incredibly difficult for Votto to talk about this stuff with the media, but as a baseball fan it's a relief to know that he got help and got himself back on the right track.