Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton has won the National League rookie of the month award for June, thanks to his fantastic speed and his improvement at the plate.

The 23-year-old speedster led the N.L. with 14 stolen bases while his 36 hits were tied for second. Hamilton paced N.L. rookies with 18 runs scored, three home runs, 10 doubles, 18 RBI, and a .500 slugging percentage. His .327 (36-for-110) batting average also was the highest among the League’s rookies.

So congratulations to Hamilton on winning this award I’ve never heard of. He’s the first Red to win it since I didn’t hear of it when Todd Frazier won it two years ago.

Billy Hamilton, will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, to commemorate his performance.

“Suitably engraved,” huh? I guess that means no cusses.

After 25 days of a quadriceps strain, Joey Votto is finally back!!

Will he be the silver bullet that pulls this team together? He wasn’t before the injury, so I don’t know why he would be now.

I’m excited anyway. I guess if I have to see a team lose, I’d rather watch Votto lose than the triple-A guys. (If I wanted to watch a triple-A team, I’d watch the Braves. They’re the youngest team in baseball, with an average age of just over 27, but they’re still leading their division. Maybe I *should* watch the Braves.)

Speaking of triple-A guys, to make room for Votto on the 25-man, the Reds optioned Donald Lutz.

The Content Marketing division over at Best Tickets sent me an email recently with a link to their Unofficial 2014 MLB Player Census.

I gave it a click, and–I won’t lie–it starts out pretty rough. First you get to hear about how the author isn’t really a baseball fan, being much more in to football and basketball (how original).

Then you get an informative lesson in why there are more pitchers than other position players (“This is likely due to the fact that pitchers do not play every single game of the year.”–Stop it! You’re blowing my mind, man!)

But just when I was ready to blow off the whole thing, I realized I’d scrolled all the way to the bottom checking out the graphs.

So I guess that means I ought to share this little time-waster with you, too. If you go check it out, you’ll learn:

• There are 19 players who throw left-handed but bat right-handed, and they’re paid the least of all the throwing/batting handedness combinations.
• The Colorado Rockies are the tallest team, but only the 11th-heaviest team.
• There are only 5 players from Canada, which makes them the 8th biggest contributor of players to MLB. It would have been 7th, but Puerto Rico got counted as a separate country. It would be 9th if you counted Texas as its own country, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

The other day I got an email from a lady at Penn Station Subs letting me know about a deal for Reds fans:

During the month of May, Penn Station is partnering with the Reds to bring customers the Big Reds Meal Deal. When purchasing an Cheesesteak sub and lemonade at regular price, customers will receive a voucher for discounted Reds tickets and an entry form an exclusive Reds VIP game experience.

Traditionally, I’ve been more of a Subway gal, seeing as I have lifelong goals of 1) eating fresh and 2) find myself way too small for my pants. But I’ve been getting progressively disillusioned with Subway ever since I tried their highly advertised avocado and found it to be an additional $1 in price for an additional zero amount of flavor.

When they rolled out this whole “flatizza” crap, they totally lost me.

The Penn Station lady had offered me a couple of Reds tickets to write about the sandwich deal, so I couldn’t resit taking a flier on Penn Station being my new sub shop of choice.

I noticed the artichoke heart sub and just had to have it, so I ordered that and left the ordering of the proper Big Reds Meal Deal to my hubby on the condition he’d let me have a bite. It’s just a side note, but for what it’s worth, the artichoke sub is spectacular.

But before we get back on topic, a quick cheesesteak story: I was once at a conference in Philadelphia where the mayor made a brief appearance. During his prepared remarks, he told us that a “real” Philly cheesesteak doesn’t have “real cheese,” but rather Cheez Whiz. It was one of those self-deprecating stories politicians tell for a cheap laugh. Unfortunately for him, there was a sizable delegation from Kraft foods at the conference, and they were quick to indignantly informed him that Cheez Whiz did, in fact, include real cheese.

I just did a search on Cheez Whiz now, though, and it looks like they did away with the real cheese in 2011. I guess that’s the inexorable march of progress for you.

No matter; the Penn Station Philly cheesesteak doesn’t use Cheez Whiz anyway. I think it was provolone. And that’s all the better for the taste, in my opinion. I’m not a huge Philly cheesesteak fan in general, but I enjoyed this one. The lemonade is really good too, and that’s coming from someone who considers herself to be somewhat of a lemonade snob.

If you’re in the greater Cincinnati area and want $5-12 off your Reds tickets, it’s worth a trip to your local Penn Station. A nice sandwich and great cup of lemonade come as part of the deal.

I just got this press release from FSOhio, and I thought that since I don’t live close by enough to try to wedge myself on to the show, that I’d pass the word along. Hopefully you’re better at trivia and less deathly pale on t.v. than I am.

Popular sports trivia show begins production this Wednesday in Cincinnati & features co-hosts Ashley Collins & Steve Caminiti.

Cincinnati, OH – The popular sports trivia show on SportsTime Ohio, Beer Money, is making its way to Cincinnati on FOX Sports Ohio. In this 30-minute show, presented by Yuengling Light Lager, contestants at local bars in the Cincinnati area will be asked sports trivia questions for the opportunity to win up to $130.

Beer Money will begin production this week. FOX Sports Ohio will be seeking contestants at various bars in the Cincinnati area March 5-7 and 12-14.

To be part of the first production shoot this Wednesday, March 5th, fans should go to Jefferson Social at 101 E. Freedom Way at 6:00pm. Following that shoot, the production crew will head to Tin Roof at 160 E. Freedom Way at 9:00pm, where fans can continue to try their hand at Beer Money sports trivia.

The following evening on Thursday, March 6th, the show will be seeking contestants starting at 6:00pm at Holy Grail at 161 Joe Nuxhall Way and then at 9:00pm at Fricker’s at 8850 Governors Hill.

Other locations for the March shoots include: Locals, Toby Keith’s, Take 5, Willie’s, Silver Spring House and more. For updates on specific locations and times, follow FOX Sports Ohio on Twitter @FOXSportsOH and like the network on Facebook.

For this new Cincinnati series of Beer Money on FOX Sports Ohio, Ashley Collins, host of the show on SportsTime Ohio (@STOashley), will be joined by Steve Caminiti (@stevecaminiti) to co-host the show. A proud alumna of Elder High School and Miami University, Caminiti is an experienced entertainer and popular comedian. He was voted “Funniest Person in Ohio” by Showtime Cable Network, and picked as “Best Comedian in Cincinnati” by both Cincinnati Magazine and City Beat Magazine.

There will be a total of six shows produced in twelve Cincinnati venues. Beer Money will begin airing on FOX Sports Ohio in April with replays. The first show will premiere Monday, April 14th at 10:30pm following Reds Live post-game show. The second episode will debut Monday, April 21st at 6:00pm, at which point each new show will premiere every other Monday at 6:00pm. Check local listings for replays.