Back in September of 1998, the "year of the home run", a rookie pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays named Roy Halladay was making his second appearance in the majors, starting against the Detroit Tigers. I have no idea why I happened to have been watching that particular game, not being a fan of either team, but it was on, it was baseball, and I watched it.
That day Halladay, who had won his first-ever appearance and first start by going five innings against Tampa Bay, set down the first twelve batters before Tiny Clark of the Tigers reached on an error. Clark would be stranded at first, and Halladay would take a no-hitter into the ninth, getting two outs before giving up a pinch-hit home run and ending up with a no-walk one-hitter.
The one-hitter was pretty shocking for a pitcher in only his second appearance in the majors, even against a poor Tigers team, and I recall it pretty well. Who is this guy, I wondered.
Well, "who this guy was" turned out to be a pitcher who would go on to a 203-105 career record and a lifetime 3.38 ERA. His 131 career ERA+ (a measure of ERA adjusted for park effects, that expresses a pitcher's performance against league average) means that for well over a decade he was over 30% better than a league-average pitcher. In nine of his 15 full seasons, he was over 40% above league average.
An intense competitor known for pitching complete games in an era when six innings is thought to be a good start, Halladay would go on to throw a regular-season perfect game against Miami and, in 2010, became only the second pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the postseason, for the Philadelphia Phillies against Cincinnati.
He won the Cy Young Award twice, once in each league, and was top-3 for the award five times. In a year he will be eligible for the Hall of Fame, and is a very reasonable candidate by most standards; an excellent candidate by mine.
On Tuesday, Roy "Doc" Halladay died when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Florida. Halladay was 40 years old. He had always wanted to fly, and so we can assume he was one who died doing what he loved.
We've no idea if Halladay, whose last season was an abbreviated 2013, would have returned to baseball in any capacity or would have simply flown off into retirement. Either way, his loss is a tragic and sad event for the world of baseball and those who follow it.
Roy Halladay never pitched for a team I rooted for personally, spending all his career with the Blue Jays and Phillies. But I always admired "Doc" and mourn his loss today in this column. "R.I.P." just sounds many decades too soon.
In coelo quies est.
Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
As you might remember I am a Phillies fan and this one hurts bad. Losing Dutch Daulton and Doc Halladay way too early, along with Dallas Green and Jim Bunning. 2017 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In 2009 the rumors were flying that the Blue Jays would trade Doc. The Phillies were the team showing the most interest. By chance Toronto made an appearance in Philly that year, I believe in June. Doc Halladay was scheduled to pitch the series finale on a Thursday afternoon. My best friend Rick and I had to go. We are diehard Phils fans. We wanted to see him up close and cheer him on to let him know Philly couldn't wait until he was on our side. Unfortunately Halladay was scratched from his start, so we didn't get a chance to see him pitch. Phils lost that game too, lousy day.
The Phillies ended up acquiring Cliff Lee instead that summer. It worked out well. But Doc was the real prize. When the Phils traded for him in the offseason I was ecstatic. (Of course Amaro blew it by trading Lee and I'm still ranting about that.)
Roy Halladay came as advertised. Clubhouse leader, dominant pitcher, perfect game. The whole package. When you read his teammates' tweets you can tell what he meant to that clubhouse. My buddies and I paid $80 bucks apiece to sit in the upper deck when he won his 20th game. First Phillie to do it since Carlton in 1982. We had to be there. We knew he would win. Lord knows when it will happen in Philadelphia again.
The no hitter against the Reds. I started watching that game at work and raced home to see the last two innings. My cousin came over and we literally jumped for joy when Doc got it. The only thing wrong with Doc's tenure with the Phillies was they didn't win the world series.
I thank you if you have made it this far. Just had to get out how much joy Roy Halladay brought to all Phillies fans. The fact that he was a classy, gracious family man made him even more special. I was lucky enough to see him pitch 5 or 6 times in person. R.I.P. Doc.
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I did indeed read it through, and as you remember, Cliff Lee ended up back in Philly after only a year anyway. I was so sorry to hear that Halladay had been doing showboat flying before crashing and that was what ended up causing the crash, but that doesn't really matter in reflecting on his life and career, and really shouldn't. We're all quite a bit sadder today.
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