Joey Votto has been awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s most outstanding athlete of the year.The 34-year-old Etobicoke native had another tremendous year starting all 162 games for the Cincinnati Reds and led MLB in on-base percentage, walks and intentional walks.Votto also became only the third player in MLB history to produce at least 179 hits, 36 homers and 134 walks with 83 strikeouts or fewer in a single season. The other two are Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.Votto is the 79th winner of the award named after the legendary former Toronto Star sports editor. He also won the award in 2010.The prestigious honour is awarded every December to Canada’s top athlete — professional or amateur, man or woman and in any sport.Such a wide-open field always makes for a spirited debate among the committee, which includes some 30 voters from across the Canadian media spectrum, and this year was no exception.The other 2017 finalists were Alex Harvey who was the first cross country skier from North America to ever win the 50 km race at the Nordic world ski championships; Rachel Homan, whose rink was the first in two decades to win the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the world championships and the Canadian Olympic trials in the same season; Sidney Crosby, who lead his Pittsburgh Penguins to a second consecutive Stanley Cup; and moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury who won 11 of nine World Cup races this year and picked up his sixth Crystal Globe as the world’s most dominant freestyle skier.The Lou Marsh Trophy, which dates all the way back to 1936, has been awarded to an incredible range of athletes over the years.Olympic athletes who strive to deliver national glory once every four years have been chosen, as have professional athletes who have to deliver their best multiple times a week.Teenage swimming star Penny Oleksiak, the first Canadian to ever win four medals at a single Summer Games, was the 2016 Lou Marsh winner and the NHL’s top goalie, Care ...
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