On Tuesday, two-time Cy Young winnerRoy Halladaywas voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 14 months after the 40-year-old perished when the two-seater plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Halladay, who earned the nickname “Doc” during his 16-year MLB career split between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Toronto Blue Jays, was voted into the Cooperstown museum along with other legendary players like New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, whobecame the first-ever unanimous selection. Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina round out the class of 2019.
With 85.4 percent of the votes needed for his induction, there’s little debate about whether Halladay is deserving of the honor.
During his career, Halladay — an eight-time All-Star — set numerous major league milestones, such as becoming only the 20th player in MLB history to pitch a perfect game in 2010. Just a few months later, he pitched the second no-hitter in post-season history, the first since the 1956 World Series. The two events secured Halladay as only the fifth pitcher ever to have two no-hitters in one season.
“One of the great pleasures of my career was being able to play behind a man like Roy Halladay,” former Phillies player Chase Utley said, according toCBS Philadelphia.“He was fierce. He was competitive. He was focused. But, most of all, he was great. Not just a great player but also a great teammate and a great friend.”
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“Off the field, he wanted nothing more than to be the best husband and father he could be,” Utley added. “He was someone I admired then and still do today.”
During Halladay’sinduction, his widow, Brandy Halladay, recalled her husband’s dream of leaving his mark on the major leagues.
“To stand on that stage in Cooperstown and deliver your acceptance speech in front of baseball’s most enthusiastic fans is something that every baseball player aspires to achieve, and Roy was no exception,” she said. “But that was not Roy’s goal. It was not his goal to have those three letters after his signature. His goal was to be successful every single day of his 16-year career. Tonight’s announcement is the end result of that effort.”
She continued: “If only Roy were here to personally express his gratitude for this honor, what an even more amazing day this would be.”
After Halladay retired from baseball in 2013, heturned his attention to a personal passion: flying.
“I’ve been dreaming about flying since I was a boy,” Halladay, a father of two, toldSeaplane Magazinein October 2017, “but was only able to become a pilot once I retired from baseball.”
After earning his pilot’s license, Halladay bought a 2018 ICON A5, an amphibious aircraft that can take off and land from water or from a tarmac.
source: people.com
