C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

For the sixth time in seven years, Reds first baseman Joey Votto has won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award as the country’s best player.

The award is given annually to “the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball's highest ideals.”

Votto first won the award in 2010, shared it with reliever John Axford the next year and has won it every year but 2014 since. Only Larry Walker (nine) has won the award more than Votto.

Votto, 33, hit .326/.434/.550 with 29 home runs and 97 RBI for the Reds in 2016, marking the fifth time in the last seven years that he’s led the National League in on-base percentage. He finished seventh in National League Most Valuable Player balloting.

"Joey Votto had another outstanding season on the field in 2016," Scott Crawford, the hall's director of operations, said in a release. "But he also continues to be very active in charitable endeavors away from the field. He's an excellent ambassador for the game of baseball in Canada and we're proud to honour him with this award."