While many fans believed the Blue Jays did Votto wrong by not calling him, he thought differently as he voiced in his retirement speech that he did not want to get a pity call up and that it would be bad for the game.
This is a perfect example of how great of a ball player Votto was as he tried to make it back to the majors but wanted zero favors and when he realized he was no longer good enough, he called it a career.