• Roy's baseball experience started in the backyard with his Dad, playing catch. He was hitting of a tee when he was around three years old. "It started off as nothing more than a way for us to spend time together," Halladay said. "He was a pilot so he was gone a lot. He'd come home and we'd either talk about airplanes, or play catch, or hit."

  Halladay inherited his work ethic from his father, Roy, Jr., a commercial airline pilot from the Denver bedroom community of Arvada, who when his young son was idle would invite him to build a model boat or toss a baseball or fly a remote-control airplane.

  "Something productive," says Halladay, whom the Blue Jays chose with the 17th pick in the 1995 draft. "I never had a lot of time when I was just 'kicking rocks,' as my Dad called it. That comes into play now. I always feel I have to do something to make myself better."

• When Halladay turned 5, a mattress was mounted along the basement wall. Roy hit it and threw baseballs into it hundreds of times every day—without being told. Then, just before Roy went into the 5th grade, the family moved to a new home that had a basement that was about 55 to 60 feet long.

  That was long enough for Dad to build a batting cage by hanging chain links from the beams. A pitching machine was bought and a hanging tire set up. Almost every night from fifth grade through high school, Halladay would follow a few rounds of batting practice with a couple of hundred throws through the tire.

• When Halladay was about 10 years old, his Dad took him to see Blue Jays scout Bus Campbell, who was speaking at a local function near Denver. Campbell told Halladay's father to bring the boy back when he was a few years older and he'd agree to begin working with him then. So that's what Halladay's father did, and a brilliant career was officially set in motion.

  Halladay credits his father for his worth ethic, but he is quick to praise Campbell for the mechanics he uses to baffle hitters to this day. Campbell coached Halladay through his years at Arvada West High School in Colorado and continued to work with the pitcher after he was selected by Toronto in the first round of the 1995 draft.

  "Honestly, I think he was the biggest help for my career," said Halladay, who reached 100 career victories faster than any pitcher in Blue Jays history, in 2007. "A couple of times a week, he'd go over video with me. He'd meet me pretty much anywhere. We'd throw and he got me ready for every spring training when I started playing.

  "He put in so much time and not only with me. There were hundreds of kids all over Colorado that he was helping, and he never took a dime. He never would accept anything. He really believed he was put here to help kids. That's why he did it."

• At age 13, Roy got his hands on a copy of Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible, and he began following the weight training program outlined in the book. If there was one word to describe the boy it was persistent. "He was very similar to what he is now," his father says. "He didn't lose his temper much, and he just went about his business. He reminds me of a golden retriever. Just a pleasant demeanor, get down to business, and when you're through with that it's on to the next thing."

  Says Roy III, "My Dad played high school baseball. But the biggest thing I got from him was his approach to life. We were always going to do something productive, always go the extra mile. The extra things that were done, that's what separates people." (Tom Verducci-Sports Illustrated-4/05/10)

• In 1995, Roy's senior high school season at West High School, Arvada, Colorado, he went 10-1, 0.55 ERA, allowing just 24 hits in 63 innings, striking out 105. He then signed a letter of intent with the University of Arizona, but passed that up to sign with the Blue Jays for a club-record $895,000.

  Then, Roy used part of that bonus money to buy Bus Campbell, the Jays scout who signed him, a satellite television system. Campbell worked extensively with Halladay during his amateur days.

• In March 2008, Bus Campbell died at age 87 after falling outside his home in Littleton, Colorado.

  DON'T CALL HIM HARRY

• His real name is Harry Leroy Halladay III. But he never responded to that name, or even to Harry Halladay—even on the first day of school. His response to the teacher's roll call never wavered. There was none. First grade . . . eighth grade . . . senior year at Arvada West High School. The teacher never heard, "Here!" from Harry Leroy Halladay III.

  "I remember getting calls just about every year from teachers wanting to make sure Roy was there," said Halladay's father, Roy, the first to unofficially dump his son's given name. Grandpa Halladay was Harry, but Junior went by "Roy." And then came "Little Roy," who grew to become the 6-foot-6 ace of the Toronto Blue Jays, then Philadelphia Phillies, and one of the best pitchers in baseball.

  "I really didn't like the name 'Harry,"' Halladay's Dad said. "To me it was like the boy named Sue. The reason we decided to give Roy that name was people were kind of asking me, 'You're not going to break the link, are you?' I was like, "'Well ...' "

• With his Dad flying an airplane all around the country, his mother Linda put in a lot of drive time.

  "My Mom was like my personal traveling secretary," Halladay said. "I was always on two teams where I'd leave practice from one team to go play in a game with another."

• When Halladay was growing up, he remembers playing with Greeley, Colorado's Shawn Chacon and Lamar's Scott Elarton, who made it to the Majors. He also remembers playing with other children who were better than him, like Kevin McDougal, Roy Turner, and Andre Champagne. McDougal, now with the Indianapolis Colts, turned out to be even better at football. Turner and Champagne never made it professionally.

  "I was never really the best kid," Halladay said. "There was always someone a little older, a little bigger and a little better than I was."

• In his senior year in high school, Halladay was third in the state (Colorado) cross-country meet.

• In 1996, Roy was third in the Florida State League in wins, fifth in ERA, and posted two five-game winning streaks.

• For several years, Halladay put in several hours of flying time during the offseason, working towards a pilot's license. He does most of his flying in a Cessna Sky Master with his father, who is a pilot.

• On the last day of the 1998 season, pitching in just his second Major League game, Ray almost pitched a no-hitter. But he lost it with two outs in the 9th when Detroit's Bobby Higginson homered at SkyDome.

• Halladay is nicknamed "Doc."

• Although his parents still live in the Arvada, Colorado area, Halladay and his wife, Brandy, moved to Florida, where the weather is more conducive to practicing baseball in the winter. It's the kind of explanation one would expect from a guy who grew up in Colorado throwing baseballs against a mattress and through hanging tires in his basement.

  "All that time in the basement, that's probably the biggest reason why I'm in the Majors today," he said.

  Roy and Brandy have two sons, Braden, who was born August 14, 2000. Their second son, Ryan David, who was born October 7, 2004, just four days after that season ended.

• Roy is humble. He is rather uncomfortable with acclaim. When he first dated his future wife, the former Brandy Gates, he didn't tell her he was a No. 1 draft pick, or that he was getting ready for his third season of pro ball.

  "I told her I was a plumber," Halladay said. "I don't think she figured out what I did until I left for the season."

  Brandy believed believed in following her instincts the way ancient sailors once did the moon and stars. Such a belief had served her well four years earlier, in 1997, when one of her girlfriends practically dragged her to play racquetball at a Denver-area gym to cheer her up—she had just changed jobs, moved back in with her parents and was driving a disagreeable Tercel. There she saw a tall, handsome young man lifting weights. He was wearing a T-shirt that said, WILL FISH FOR FOOD. She gave him her phone number, sensing, correctly, that he was too shy to ask for it.

  Mom," she told her mother as soon as she got home, "today I met the man I'm going to marry."

  Then, at one point, Roy was talking about how horrible his life in the game was, being demoted by the Blue Jays back to Class-A Dunedin. Brandy ended up at a Books-A-Million on U.S. 19. She started filling her arms with books. Books about depression. Books about self-esteem. Books about self-help. Anything that might pull Roy back from the brink.

  And then she walked into the sports section. All the books stood obediently on the shelf, spines out, except for one that was lying down, cover up, as if it were waiting for her. When she saw its title she laughed out loud: The Mental ABC's of Pitching, by H.A. Dorfman.

  "That's amazing," she said to herself. "I can't believe there are enough people out there who would need a book like this."

  She bought that book and nine others. Two of them were blank. Having been raised Mormon (though they are now nonpracticing), Brandy and Roy were encouraged to put their feelings in journals. She gave the books to Roy and explained why there were two journals. One was to be a repository of his personal feelings, the other a professional journal. In those blank pages Roy Halladay could define and track his goals. The Mental ABC's of Pitching would be his instruction manual. (Tom Verducci-Sports Illustrated-4/05-10)

• Halladay doesn't enjoy answering questions about himself. "You want to be personable and helpful, but at the same time, I enjoy playing so much," Halladay said. "That's why I do it. I've never been an outgoing type of person where I sought attention or anything."

  "He's very grounded," Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "I'd like to meet his parents one day and tell them they did a great job raising him."

• Doc says that the time he spent in Knoxville in 2001, with Mel Queen, then a Blue Jays organizational pitching coach, was invaluable.

  When Halladay broke into the majors, he threw straight over the top, a 6' 6", 225-pound Iron Mike whose pitches were flat. Queen simply lowered his arm angle. Within two bullpen sessions Halladay's pitches were jitterbugging. This was about the same time that Halladay's wife, Brandy, presented him with The Mental Game of Baseball, written by sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. Halladay devoured it.

  After moving up to Syracuse and finally being recalled to the majors on Canada Day, July 1, 2001, Halladay met Dorfman through first-year general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who, as a member of the A's organization, had become acquainted with the psychologist. Roy still thumbs through Dorfman's The Mental ABC's of Pitching a few times a week and reads it cover-to-tattered-cover eight or nine times a season, keeping his dog-eared copy close to his numbers grid.

• In both 2004 and 2005 spring training, Halladay would take a few of the young pitchers under his wing and have what was called, "Doc's Breakfast Club," where a handful of the Jays top pitching prospects ran, ate breakfast and worked out with the staff ace prior to the daily team workouts.

• Doc likes to keep a book on opposing hitters, but was finding the process very time-consuming. He mentioned the problem to an uncle, who happens to be a computer programmer, and put in motion a back-and-forth exchange that has resulted in a program that should save Halladay hours a week over the course of a season.

  "It can chart pitch location and show the whole at-bat," he said. "It does spray charts, it shows hot zones ... it's a real time-saver.

  "During the year, I would watch the video after the game and try and chart them and I ended up writing it down. Come the next start, I'm trying to watch the video and find my sheets and put it all together.

  "Now I can just go through whatever team I am playing (the program lists the 40-man rosters of all Major League clubs) and I just go to the player and it has all the stuff there. I can put up the DVD on the same screen, watch the video of the game on half of the screen and update from that day's game." (Mike Ganter-Toronto Sun-5/7/04)

• Roy is not real big on the glitz and glamour of being an ace pitcher on a Major League staff. He has more of a blue collar mentality, preferring to let the satisfaction of a job done well.

  "I think that's the reason I like Toronto," said Halladay. "I think this is a place where we can go out and do our jobs and not have to handle so much media. I'm an under-the-radar type guy anyway, and I'm not really into the whole spotlight deal. Sometimes it's nice to be able to slip under," Halladay said. "Very nice."

  While Halladay isn't one to collect newspaper headlines and clippings lauding his on-field achievements, he does treasure one thing in the game: the respect of his peers. In April 2005, after a sterling performance against the Yankees, Derek Jeter said, "Everyone talks about the great pitchers in the game. They need to start talking about Halladay because he's as good as they come."

• Around midway through the 2006 season, Toronto fans started a new tradition with Halladay on the mound. Instead of the traditional "K" signs that keep track of the number of strikeouts for the pitcher, Blue Jays fans started hanging up "G" signs from the second deck facade to signify how many ground outs Halladay had recorded.

• Halladay has earned his reputation as one of the hardest-working players in baseball, and it's his rigorous workout regimen that has helped the pitcher turn himself into one of the game's elite aces.

  His capacity for work is incredible. He has a freakish need to train and work out. He lifts weights, fielding a multisided rubber reaction ball, sliding laterally on a slide board, using the elliptical machine, running on the treadmill, pulling on rubber tubing and tackling other assorted exercises, capped off by stretching and then soaking in metal tubs, alternating between 110° water and 50° water to open and close his blood vessels, which helps his body recover more efficiently.

  Doc is the Peyton Manning of pitchers. "That's what I call him," says Yankees starter A.J. Burnett, a former Toronto teammate. "No one is more prepared." Halladay, following Brandy's encouragement, has cataloged every start, every hitter, every side session, every workout in notebooks and computer files.

  PERFECT GAME FOLLOWED BY NO-HITTER

• On May 29, 2010, Doc Halladay pitched the 20th perfect game in Major League history. He struck out 11 Florida  Marlins, and was cheered by a crowd of 25,086 throughout much of the night. Another fan called later—Vice President Joe Biden dialed up the Phillies' clubhouse to offer his congratulations when it was over.

  "Early in my bullpen, I was hitting spots more than I have been. I felt like I just carried that out there," Halladay said.

• That day, Roy threw 115 pitches with 72 strikes and 11 stike outs.

  In a post-game interview, Roy praised Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz, saying "I can't say enough about the job that [catcher Carlos] Ruiz did tonight, really. I felt like he was calling a great game up until the fourth or fifth, and at that point, I just felt like I'd let him take over and go with him. He did a great job. Like I said, it was kind of a no-brainer for me. I'd just go out, see the glove and hit it."

  Roy became the second Phillie to throw a perfect game, preceded by Jim Bunning, on Father's Day, June 21, 1964, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

• On October 7, 2010, Doc threw the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading the Phillies over the Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NL Division Series. Don Larsen is the only other pitcher to throw a postseason no-hitter. He tossed a perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

• Halladay showed up at 2012 spring training in an amazing 1932 Ford roadster.

• During the offseason, exercise fiend Halladay can be spotted on bicycle jaunts near his home in Pinellas County, Florida.

• Roy and his wife were raised as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although they are now non-practicing Mormons.

• During his time in Toronto, Halladay was famous for his "Doc's Box" program, which brought a lot of joy to sick children. He purchased a luxury suite at Rogers Centre and invited children from the community to attend. Halladay instituted the program after signing his first multiyear contract with the organization, and he kept the initiative in place until he departed the city after 2009.

• Spring Training 2017:  Roy has been busy since he threw his final pitch for the Phillies in 2013.  He has 800 flight hours, planning to earn an instructor's license so he can teach his sons to fly. He is coaching one son's 12-and-under baseball team and is the pitching coach at Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater, where his 16-year-old son pitches. He is teaching kids the changeup that former Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee taught him in Spring Training 2010.

  "It's one of the easiest for young kids to be able to throw," Halladay said. "It's not that complicated, it's an easy grip. And they usually get decent results out of it. The parents are thanking me. I have to go thank Dubee."

  But Halladay, who is one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, wanted more, which is why he joined the Phillies for a week as a guest instructor. He talked with a few other teams, but felt the Phils were the best spot for him.  "The most welcomed and the most wanted was here," he said. "And I also felt like there were the best opportunities for me to be helpful." (Zolecki - mlb.com - 3/7/17)

• November 7, 2017: Halladay passed away at the age of 40 following a tragic plane crash in Central Florida. His plane went down in the Gulf of Mexico. He was on his way home, which was in the Clearwater, Florida area.

  Halladay's ICON A5 light sport aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico at approximately noon ET. Halladay was an avid pilot who frequently talked about his love of flying and recently posted images and video of his aircraft to social media.

  The plane crash happened 10 miles west of St. Petersburg, Fla. Halladay lived in nearby Clearwater, and he is survived by his wife Brandy and their two sons. The Pasco Sheriff's Office confirmed that Halladay was the lone passenger of the aircraft and that no mayday call was received prior to the accident. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.

  One of Halladay's hobbies during retirement was flying, and earlier this year, he told the Phillies media that he had approximately 800 hours in the air along with his instrument rating and multi-engine rating. He was working on receiving his commercial rating and wanted to learn how to instruct others.

  "I'm working on my commercial rating. ... I'm trying to progress through it," Halladay said. "I'd like to be able to instruct so I can teach my boys. I'd like to try to finish that up." (Gregor Chisholm - MLB.com - 11/07/2017)

  STATEMENT FROM THE HALLADAY FAMILY

• Nov 9, 2017: 

  Our family is heartbroken in confirming that Roy passed away in a plane crash Tuesday afternoon (Nov 7, 2017). While many will remember him for his success as a major league pitcher, we remember him as an amazing father, loving husband and loyal friend.

  Roy had many accomplishments in his professional career, the memories of which we will cherish forever. He described each achievement as a team effort rather than an individual accomplishment, a true testament to his character and love for his teammates.

  Roy grew up with a passion for planes and always had the goal of becoming a pilot. Since retiring from baseball, he has been actively studying, accumulating the required flight hours and obtaining multiple pilot certifications and licenses. Just as he was known for his work ethic in baseball, he was also widely respected by those who knew him in the aviation community for his hard work, attention to detail and dedication to safety while flying. He treated his passion for aviation with the same joy and enthusiasm as he did his love for baseball.

  That passion was also expressed through his tireless dedication to helping his own children and so many others learn to love and respect the game of baseball. He was an amazing coach for many youth teams, always showing patience and encouragement while reminding each child that they all had a role to play, a way to contribute and add value to their team. His love for the game had no boundaries as we often saw him instructing and encouraging the players on opposing teams. Roy was selfless in every aspect of his life.

  While we mourn the loss of the core of our family, we choose to celebrate him and remember the man we knew privately on and off the field. We hope that he serves as an example of professionalism, integrity and hard work for all who knew him. For us, we will forever remember his unconditional love, humility and the sacrifices he made to provide for the family that meant the world to him.

  On behalf of our family we thank you for respecting our privacy during this time of overwhelming grief. We also ask that you respect the privacy of our extended family as well as the families and children who Roy has coached, taught or worked with. We are so fortunate and thankful for the outpouring of love and support we've received from across the world. A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida. The service will be open to the public.The Halladay Family

• Nov 8, 2017: The eighth-grade English assignment seemed relatively simple. The teacher instructed the students to write an essay on what they wanted to be when they grow up with the warning, "Don't be submitting any silly goals like President or professional athlete." Harry LeRoy Halladay III was in a quandary. All he had ever wanted to be was a baseball player. Halladay, better known as Roy, had been playing catch with his father since he was 3. He was the youngest on his T-ball team at the age of 5. And in the basement of the family home was a batting cage his father built.

  What, he wondered, was silly about wanting to be a baseball player? Nothing, said Harry LeRoy Halladay II. "I called the teacher," the father explained a few years ago. "She said she wanted the children to be realistic. I asked why take dreams away? Whether kids fulfill their dreams is not up to you. It's up to them." Halladay's dream did come true. He did become a baseball player, and not just any baseball player. He became a pitcher who for a decade was arguably the most dominant pitcher in the game.

  But for all Halladay accomplished he never forgot where he came from and who was there to help him along the way, which added to the emotions when Halladay, 40, died when the plane he was flying crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

  Halladay was one of those guys who took the mound and everybody in the ballpark knew he was in charge. Think about it: A two-time Cy Young Award winner, he is one of only seven pitchers to have finished in the top five in Cy Young Award voting seven or more times in a career. (.T Ringolsby - MLB.com - Nov 8, 2017)

• Nov 8, 2017: Halladay was so much more than a baseball player. He was one of those people who truly never forget where he came from, and understood that being able to help others was a gift that should be shared. He and his wife had a private box at SkyDome when he was with the Blue Jays, where children from a group called Sick Kids were guests for every Saturday home game. He didn't take things for granted. That wasn't the Halladay way. As his father explained to that eighth-grand teacher, it was OK for him to dream but it was up to him to make the dreams come true. And the father did what he could to provide the opportunities for Halladay to turn dreams into reality.

  That included bringing the late Bus Campbell into Halladay's life. The younger Halladay was 7 when he and his father heard Campbell, a Rocky Mountain pitching icon, speak at a banquet. The father asked Campbell if he would work with his son. "Lay off the curve, work on a change and call me back when he is 14," said Campbell. The elder Halladay couldn't wait. He called Campbell back when Halladay was 12, and a relationship that grew until Campbell's death in February of 2008. Halladay, who broke away from Spring Training to speak at Campbell's funeral, made no bones about what Campbell meant to him.

  Plenty of people along the way worked with Halladay, but nobody had the impact of Campbell, whose only payment for his multiple lessons each week of Halladay's youth and his constant interaction throughout Halladay's career was chocolate chip cookies baked by Halladay's mother. "Where would I be without Bus' tutelage and encouragement?" Halladay responded to a question in the aftermath of Campbell's death. "I doubt I'd be in baseball. I got my work ethic from my dad and my baseball knowledge from Bus. They were the two most important men in my life." How important?

  Asked if he would dedicate that 2008 season to Campbell, Halladay flashed a sly smile. "My career, the way I live," said Halladay of what he dedicated to Campbell.

  "There are so many great things I learned from Bus about life." And one of those things was helping others. Campbell was a junior high school teacher and a pitching guru. Even when Jamie Moyer, at the age of 30, came to Campbell for help in salvaging his career, Campbell wouldn't take any money in return, so Moyer established a fund in memory of Campbell's son, Randy, a high school coach in the Denver area, who died at the age of 36.

  Over the years, Halladay found ways to repay Campbell, the biggest of which was living his life in a caring manner, just like Campbell. And then there was that initial thank you at Christmas in 1995, after the Blue Jays selected Halladay in the first round of the baseball draft the previous June. Halladay decided to pay for the installation and subscription to a satellite television service, but knew Campbell wouldn't allow it to be installed. So at Christmas break that year, Halladay called Campbell's house and was told Campbell was out for a while. Halladay sprang into action, and before Campbell returned, the system was installed and operational.

  Campbell balked. He didn't want any gifts. Halladay explained it was so Campbell could eventually watch his pupil pitch in pro ball and offer him tips. "Well, what's going to happen when the subscription runs out?" asked Campbell. "There will be another Christmas before then," replied Halladay. 

  And the relationship grew stronger over time. Others would work with Halladay, and Campbell was careful to never interfere. But there would be regular phones calls from Halladay to talk about the game -- mental and physical -- particularly when Halladay found himself back at Class A Advanced Dunedin to start the 2001 season after spending the two previous seasons in the Jays rotation. 

  "He did so much and asked for nothing in return," said Halladay. "I try to live my life the way he would want me to live." Halladay did just that -- on the baseball field and off. (T Ringolsby - MLB.com - Nov 8, 2017)

• Roy was posthumously inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame in a pregame ceremony on Aug. 4, 2018, at Citizens Bank Park.

  "Braden, Ryan and I are so honored to have Roy remembered in this way," Halladay's wife Brandy Halladay said in a statement. "He will be in great company with other Phillies legends who are on the Wall of Fame. The decision made by the Phillies to induct Roy without a fan vote makes it even more meaningful. I look forward to fans and the community coming out to celebrate this special occasion with us."

  Halladay died in November 2017 when his plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. He was 40.

  Halladay will be one of only four Phillies to be inducted into the Wall of Fame without a fan vote, joining Charlie Manuel, Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. Halladay pitched with the Phillies from 2010-13, winning the 2010 National League Cy Young Award. He also threw a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter in 2010. He spent last year working for the Phillies as a mental skills coach at Carpenter Complex.

  In addition to the Wall of Fame ceremony, a flag bearing Halladay's No. 34 will be flown throughout the 2018 season at Citizens Bank Park.  (Zolecki - mlb.com - 2/27/18)

• Jan 19, 2018: An autopsy performed on two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay revealed evidence of morphine and Ambien in his system following his fatal plane crash on Nov. 7, according to a USA Today report.

  Halladay was killed when his single-engine aircraft crashed in the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa, Fla., and the autopsy -- conducted by the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office in Pinellas County, Fla. -- cited blunt-force trauma and subsequent drowning to be the likely causes of his death.

  The consumption of any alcoholic substance or drug within eight hours of flying is prohibited by Federal Aviation Administration regulations. USA Today reported that the investigation into Halladay's death is ongoing, per the National Transportation Safety Board. A preliminary report states that Halladay's aircraft made several steep climbs and dipped close to the water before making a 360-degree turn and crashing.

  Halladay, who was 40, was an iconic pitcher for both the Blue Jays and Phillies over his 16-year Major League career. The eight-time All-Star is one of six pitchers in Major League history to win the Cy Young in both leagues. The right-hander pitched a perfect game on May 29, 2010, and followed it up months later with a no-hitter in Game 1 of the National League Division Series -- only the second postseason no-hitter in history. (M Kelly - MLB.com - Jan 19, 2018)

  March 17, 2018: Braden Halladay was watching his father, Roy, get inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame last summer 2017, when the idea first crossed his mind. Braden saw the red and white. He saw what his father meant to an entire nation, how proud his family was of their time north of the border. He started thinking about what it would be like to wear the Maple Leaf. Braden spent most of his life in the United States, but he was born in Toronto and considers himself a dual-citizen, even if the 17-year-old isn't quite sure he has the paperwork to prove it. Since his high school career began, Halladay has proudly worn a patch with the Canadian flag on his glove. Braden doesn't know if he actually is Canadian, but it definitely feels like he is.

  That's why Braden decided to suit up this week for the Canadian Junior National Team during their annual trip to Spring Training. When talking to Braden, it becomes clear early on this is not some kind of gimmick or ploy. Braden legitimately feels close to the country where his father spent 12 years playing in a star role for the Blue Jays. So there he was on Saturday afternoon, facing his dad's old team, on the same mound where his father's journey began as a first-round pick way back in 1995.

  "I find myself at the first day of school, when they ask your name and your grade and a fun fact about you, my fun fact is always I was born in Canada," Braden said. "I feel like I couldn't have had a better place to grow up. I feel I would not be anywhere near where I was. I still go back once or twice a year, and even though I'm not living there, I still feel it's a part of who I am." Braden is not his father. He doesn't possess the mid-90s fastball that came with devastating sink and pinpoint command. He's probably not going to be a first-round pick, but what's important here is that he's living his baseball dream. The high school junior is committed to Penn State, and it's possible that by 2019 he will also be in the mix for the MLB Draft.

  Despite the differences between son and father, there are similarities as well. The delivery, the methodical way he breaks down his own abilities and the skill sets of others. The way his eyes light up when he talks about pitching. He seems more outgoing than his father ever was, at least publicly, with a personality that he at least partially gets from his mother, Brandy. Braden is his own man, but he also seems to get it a lot more than most kids his age would.

  This is a teenager who lost his father in a tragic plane crash just a few months ago, and he's now able to sit there and patiently, coherently, answer questions from reporters about his legacy. It can't be easy growing up in the shadow of someone with the stature of Roy, but Braden never resented it, not even for a second.

  "At least from my perspective, he knows everything about everything as far as pitching goes," Braden said. "From a pitching standpoint, it was everything I could have asked for and more. ... Especially now, every time I make mistakes, I still hear him drilling me about them in my head, just because he's done it so many times before. From a mind-set standpoint, I don't think with any bias that I could have had a better teacher." The younger Halladay was quick to follow that statement with an answer that his father never forced him to do anything. Yes, there was some tough love involved, but only when he was looking for it. Roy's approach was simple, let Braden know that everything was his choice, but if he did want to pursue baseball, then this is what you have to do to get there.

  Braden put some of those lessons to use, when he entered in the bottom of the eighth inning and retired all three batters, including Bo Bichette, that he faced. His fastball sat in the low 80s, with a breaking ball that registered in the upper 60s. The reaction, both on and off the field, said it all. "That was a pretty good standing ovation for him," Blue Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale said. "Both dugouts, his team as well, got up and clapped. He kept his composure pretty good, I thought. ... I'm sure there were a lot of emotions running through him, but I'm happy for him. His composure was there, he was out there competing. His dad was one of the best to ever toe the rubber."

  During the months following Roy's death, Braden heard from a countless number of his father's friends and former teammates. Everyone had a story to share. They want him to know how much Roy impacted their life. How he was a role model, a source of inspiration for so many people. Braden experienced that earlier this week when one of his idols expressed those exact sentiments.

  "I told him I got a lot of my lanes, repertoire, from his father," Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman said. "As far as cutting the ball, sinking the ball and having it come out of the same arm slot. I think Roy was the first one to do that exceptionally well in his career. I told him that. He said he's a big fan of mine, which is pretty crazy to hear, still, when your dad is Roy Halladay. Awesome to see him. I wish him nothing but the best." (G Chisholm - MLB.com - March 17, 2018)

  April 5, 2018: Eagles head coach Doug Pederson arrived at Citizens Bank Park a little more than an hour before he carried the Lombardi Trophy onto the field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Rhys Hoskins. Pederson thought it might be a nice touch to wear a Roy Halladay jersey to the mound. But could the Phillies find one in time? They not only found a Halladay jersey, they found Halladay's actual jersey. Phillies vice president of communications Bonnie Clark had packed up Halladay's jersey, which he wore at Phillies alumni functions, at the end of Spring Training 2017. The jersey hung in her office for the past year, originally expecting Halladay to wear it to future engagements. Tragically, Halladay died in a plane crash in November. The Phillies paid tribute to him before the game, which included a video montage and a moment of silence.

  Phillies baseball communications assistant Kenny Ayres said he got chills as he retrieved and carried Halladay's jersey from Clark's office. Clark used the same word, "chills," as she handed the jersey to Pederson. Halladay's jersey fit Pederson perfectly. "I really wanted to honor him by wearing it," Pederson said. (T Zolecki - MLB.com - April 5, 2018)

                HOF

• Jan 22, 2019: Roy Halladay's death still has an unreal quality to it, even now, almost 15 months later. His remarkable life was one of joy and accomplishment, of confronting failure and ultimately achieving greatness with dignity, resilience and tenacity. He so often seemed indestructible. Those are the things Halladay's family and friends will celebrate this summer when he's inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Halladay received baseball's highest honour on Tuesday in his first year of eligibility in a moment awash with sadness, pain and sweet memories. He was named on 363 of 425 ballots, garnering 85.4 percent of the vote to smash the required 75-percent threshold.

  Halladay died Nov. 7, 2017, when the single-engine light-sport plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa, Fla. He was 40 years old. Back and shoulder injuries had ended Halladay's 16-season Major League career -- 12 for the Blue Jays, four for the Phillies -- in '13. 

• Halladay's journey to greatness was even more remarkable because he had to confront failure early in his career. He defeated it and rode its lessons to greatness. Halladay ended up an eight-time All-Star and a two-time Cy Young Award winner who finished in the top five of voting on five other occasions. Halladay was also a three-time 20-game winner who amassed 203 victories with a 3.38 ERA. During an 11-season stretch between 2001-11, he was one of baseball's most dominant pitchers.

  That era was highlighted by one of the great postseason performances of all-time: Halladay's no-hitter against the Reds in Game 1 of a National League Division Series in 2010. In five postseason starts in '10 and '11, he had a 2.37 ERA and went at least seven innings in four of them. In those 11 seasons of greatness, Halladay's 65.5 Wins Above Replacement (per Baseball-Reference) led all pitchers by a wide margin. He ranked fourth in innings (2,300), third in ERA (2.96, minimum 1,000 innings) and third in WHIP (1.11, minimum 100 innings) over the stretch. Halladay's 64 complete games during the span were 30 more than any other pitcher and more than 18 teams posted. 

• But before the success, Halladay faced struggles. When he was 24 years old, having endured a miserable 2000 season (10.64 ERA in 19 appearances), the Blue Jays sent him to Class A Advanced Dunedin in the hope he would reinvent himself. There, with the assistance of Blue Jays pitching guru Mel Queen and others, Halladay reworked his pitching mechanics, adding movement to his fastball and deception to his delivery. He also began working with the late Harvey Dorfman -- a legendary sports psychologist and author of "The Mental ABC's of Pitching" -- who helped, among others, Hall of Famer John Smoltz. That was that. Halladay went 41-14 with a 3.10 ERA and 505 1/3 innings over his next two full seasons for the Blue Jays. He was 148-76 during his Toronto years and 40-16 in his first two seasons in Philly.

  Halladay was traded to the Phillies after the 2009 season and helped them win the NL East in '10 and '11. On May 29, 2010, he pitched the 20th perfect game in Major League history, needing just 115 pitches while striking out 11 Marlins in South Florida. "There were guys who threw harder and had better breaking balls," said Buck Martinez, who managed Halladay with the Blue Jays. "But Halladay's strength was that he put his foot on your throat the whole game. Body language is everything, and his says, 'I'm better than you.'" 

• During a celebration of Halladay's life in Clearwater, Fla., shortly after his death, he was remembered as a great husband, father, teammate and friend. "He was not a one-dimensional man," Phillies teammate Raul Ibanez said. "Who he was, everything about him was just great and grace. He carried himself with class and confidence and humility."

  Former Blue Jays and Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter, one of Halladay's closest friends, said when the two were planning an offseason fishing trip to South America, Halladay reminded him to bring his glove so they could get their throwing in. That was the trip during which they swam in the Amazon. "Remember now, we're in the jungle," Carpenter said. "The water is clear as a cup of coffee and we've been catching piranha all day. I told him, 'You're nuts.'" "Now come on, Carp," Halladay said. "We can say we swam in the Amazon River. Who do we know who can ever say that?"

  Carpenter and Halladay faced off in a decisive NLDS Game 5 in 2011. Carpenter and the Cardinals won, 1-0. "Doc texted me after Game 5," Carpenter said. "I was on the bus. He was in front of his locker. There he was, he'd just pitched his heart out, and he wanted to congratulate me and wish me luck the rest of the way."

  Phillies second baseman Chase Utley showed up at 5:45 a.m. on the first day of Spring Training in Halladay's first spring with the club in 2010. Utley wanted to be there first to send a message to his teammates about the tone they should set for the season. At that early hour, Utley found Halladay had already worked out and was having breakfast hours before the Phillies were scheduled to report. "I knew then and there this guy was the real deal," Utley said. (R Justice - MLB.com - Jan 22, 2019)

• Jan 25, 2019: Roy Halladay will be portrayed on the Hall of Fame plaques wearing a cap with no team logo, the Cooperstown shrine announced. Halladay's career was divided between the Blue Jays and Phillies.

  Going without a logo is not unprecedented. Catfish Hunter, who pitched for the A's and Yankees, went without one when he was inducted in 1987, and Greg Maddux, whose 23 big league seasons were mostly divided between the Cubs and Braves, did the same in 2014.

• A little over a month before Roy Halladay is due to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, the Blue Jays selected his son, Braden, a right-hander from Calvary Christian (Florida) High School, in the 32nd round of the MLB Draft on June 5, 2019.

  With a strong commitment to Penn State, the Blue Jays planned to use the late-round pick as a gesture to the young pitcher and his family, and to ensure the Halladay legacy continued in some way in Toronto.

  “We obviously know the family well, know him well, and spent time with them,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “He’s headed to Penn State, and we’re glad to have drafted him.”

  There was a bit of symbolism behind the 32nd-round pick, as Roy wore No. 32 for most of his tenure with the Blue Jays. The club retired the number in 2018 in honor of its longtime ace, who died tragically at the age of 40 in a plane crash off the coast of Florida in November 2017.

  “Matt Bishoff, our crosschecker, and Brandon Bishoff, our scout in the area, were able to talk to Braden and the family ... to let them know that we were planning on doing that,” Blue Jays amateur scouting director Steve Sanders said. “It was really a group thing, something we had talked about doing to really signal to them and acknowledge them as part of the Blue Jays family. And specifically Braden, we’re certainly excited to watch him go play in college and then hopefully be in the same situation a few years from now.”

  After he was selected, Braden tweeted: "Thank you Blue Jays for drafting me in the 32nd round today! It’s a great honor! It’s with mutual understanding that I’ll still be honoring my commitment to Penn State! I look forward to college and bettering myself as a player and person, thank you to all who have supported me!" 

  “He’s a good player,” Sanders said. “He’s got a feel to pitch. We’ve certainly seen him play and we feel like he’s set up to have a lot of success at the next level, and we’re excited to watch him pitch at Penn State. He’s got a good delivery.

  “We saw him pitch last year down in Dunedin, [Fla.], against the Jays [as a member of the Canadian Junior National Team]. He competes really well, and as he grows into his frame and grows into his stuff, he’s set up to have a lot of success at Penn State.”  (Brudnicki - mlb.com - 6/5/19)

  INDUCTION INTO HOF

• July 21, 2019: COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- It is something that crossed everybody’s mind over the past several months, but never more so than on this day.

  How would Roy Halladay have felt about his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which he joined posthumously alongside Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Lee Smith and Harold Baines? What would he have said? But after Halladay died in November 2017, when his personal aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, Halladay’s wife, Brandy, delivered the speech in front of tens of thousands of baseball fans outside Clark Sports Center, a short walk from where Halladay’s plaque will hang inside the Hall of Fame and Museum.

  “This is not my speech to give,” Brandy Halladay told the crowd. “I’m going to do the best I can to say the things I believe Roy might have said or would have wanted to say if he was here today. The thank yous could and should go on for days when you consider the impact so many people had on Roy’s career.”

  It was an emotional speech, one that Brandy said she had been planning for months, trying to remember the thoughts that entered her mind in the shower, the car or wherever she happened to be.

  “Putting it into words was tougher, because I think about it all the time,” she said afterward. “Be sincere and be genuine and represent him in a way that I think he would have appreciated.” 

• A tribute video played before Brandy stepped to the podium. Halladay’s best friend, former Blue Jays teammate Chris Carpenter, told some of his favorite stories, both on and off the field. Halladay’s best career highlights played. Brandy wiped away tears.

  She then stood, posed with her husband’s plaque and stepped to the podium.

  “I knew I was going to cry at some point,” she said.

  She quickly recovered. Brandy said in her speech and afterward that she felt the support of the Hall of Fame players behind her.

  “The amount of support we have received in the last six months and the friends we have made, it’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “Thank you to Harold, Lee, Mariano, Mike and Edgar for sharing the stage with me. A special thanks to all these men behind me who I can’t look at because I’ll cry again. All of your families, too, have extended so much love and friendship to myself and to my children. I’m so grateful.

  “Anybody who thinks baseball truly isn’t a family has never been involved in baseball. I know how honored Roy would be to be sitting here today with such accomplished men who have represented this game so well over the course of all your careers.”

• Halladay’s baseball story is an incredible one. A first-round Draft pick in 1995, he came within one out of throwing a no-hitter in his second big league start in 1998. He pitched terribly in 2000, posting a 10.64 ERA in 67 2/3 innings with the Blue Jays, which remains the record for the highest single-season ERA in baseball history (minimum 50 innings). Toronto sent Halladay all the way to Class A Advanced Dunedin to open the ’01 season to work on his mechanics and confidence.

  Things like that do not happen to future Hall of Fame pitchers. Things like that happen to journeymen. Things like that happen to first-round busts. But Halladay changed his mechanics, rewired his brain and developed a peerless work ethic to become one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. He won two Cy Young Awards, threw the 20th perfect game in baseball history and, in his first career appearance in the playoffs, threw the second no-hitter in postseason history.

  Halladay went 203-105 in his 16-year career, spending his first 12 seasons with the Blue Jays, regularly grinding through some of the best lineups in baseball in the American League East, and his final four with the Phillies, where he finally got to pitch in the postseason. Halladay threw 67 complete games in his career. No team has thrown more than 37 since Halladay retired in 2013.

  They don’t make many like Halladay anymore. Brandy thanked the scouts, coaches, general managers, mentors, teammates, family, friends and fans for helping her husband along the way.

  “Roy’s natural talent obviously was a huge part of this, but without all the unconditional continued support from every one of you, he never could have dedicated himself to being the best ballplayer he could be,” she said. “I say it a lot, but it takes a village, and we truly have a great one.”

• Halladay had his struggles. He wondered if he would ever be good enough to pitch in the big leagues following the 2000 season and his ’01 demotion to A ball. He tried hard to please people. He did not want to fail. But then he found and developed a close relationship with the late sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. Together, they worked to make Halladay a great baseball player and a better person.

  “He was a great coach, a nervous husband and father only because he so desperately wanted to be as great and successful at home as he was in baseball,” Brandy said. “I think that Roy would want everyone to know that people aren’t perfect. We are all imperfect or flawed in one way or another. We all struggle, but with hard work, humility and dedication, imperfect people can still have perfect moments. Roy was blessed in his life and in his career to have some perfect moments, but I believe they were only possible because of the man he strived to be, the teammate that he was and the people he was blessed to be on the field with. I’m so humbled to say congratulations to this year’s Hall of Fame inductees and to say thank you to all of you on Roy’s behalf.” (T Zolecki - MLB.com - July 21, 2019)

• April 16, 2020: Brandy Halladay said the NTSB report that revealed further details about the plane crash that killed her husband, Roy Halladay, in the Gulf of Mexico in November 2017 was “painful for our family, as it has caused us to relive the worst day of our lives.”

  The report detailed that Halladay had drugs in his system and performed acrobatic maneuvers with the plane before it crashed. Halladay, who died from blunt force trauma and drowning, battled chronic back pain and depression before he died. He twice entered programs for help.

  Halladay was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., last July. Brandy spoke on his behalf.

  “I think that Roy would want everyone to know that people are not perfect,” she said in Cooperstown. “We are all imperfect and flawed in one way or another. We all struggle, but with hard work, humility and dedication, imperfect people still can have perfect moments. Roy was blessed in his life and career to have some perfect moments.”

  Brandy echoed those sentiments in a statement released Thursday by the Phillies.

  “It has reinforced what I have previously stated, that no one is perfect,” Brandy said. “Most families struggle in some capacity and ours was no exception. We respectfully ask that you not make assumptions or pass judgement. Rather, we encourage you to hug your loved ones and appreciate having them in your lives. As a family, we ask that you allow Roy to rest in peace.” (T Zolecki - MLB.com - April 16, 2020)

• May 18, 2020: A Window inside Kalladay's pitching mind:

  In the new book “Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay,” MLB.com’s Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki details not only Halladay’s Hall of Fame baseball career with the Phillies and Blue Jays, but his hard-driven adolescence, his lifelong personal struggles and his motivation to pay forward the knowledge and philosophies that helped him achieve greatness before he died in a plane crash in 2017. In this excerpt, Zolecki details Halladay’s legendary work ethic and routine between starts, recreating the fourth day of Halladay’s typical five-day routine and setting the scene for his historic perfect game against the Marlins in Miami on May 29, 2010.

  This excerpt from "Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay" by Todd Zolecki is printed with the permission of Triumph Books. For more information and to order a copy, please visit www.triumphbooks.com/DocPhillies.

• Day 4

  Halladay played catch, sometimes with [Phillies strength and conditioning coordinator Dong] Lien.

  “That day was lighter for most people,” Lien said, “but he didn’t want it to be. He just wanted to make sure that he was moving around. Nothing long duration, short duration. A last-minute check to see how his body is feeling that day. There’s a checklist. My legs are a bit tight, then I need to do more stretching. Making sure he’s hydrated for the next day’s start. He’s fueling with food, hydration. He taught me a lot. Things we may not have considered at the time, but just the importance of being mindful. A day before my start, just making sure that I’ve addressed nutrition needs, hydration needs, recovery needs, video preparation. It was strategic.”

  Halladay spent time in his hyperbaric chamber, but he spent most of Day 4 in the video room. Many times it was just Halladay, Chase Utley, and [video coaching services manager Kevin] Camiscioli.

  “What was funny was it became Doc and Utley kind of going head to head, staring at the monitors and looking for anything and everything mortals can’t see,” Camiscioli said. “They were two students of the game with a tremendous amount of respect for the game.”

  Halladay and Utley typically worked in silence, which surprised nobody that knew them. But occasionally one of them asked a question about something they saw on their screen.

  “Hey, Chase,” Halladay said.

  “Yeah?”

  “What do you think about this?”

  Utley’s ability to uncover how pitchers tipped pitches was legendary. He could spend hours in the video room looking for a subtle movement that would give himself and his teammates an edge. When he found something, he froze the image on the screen, stood up and walked out of the room.

  “We would talk about giving away pitches from a hitter’s standpoint, what a hitter could see on him,” Utley said. “So we talked about that a lot. He was always picking my brain on things he could do to essentially keep from tipping his pitches.” 

• Halladay had been throwing his changeup only a couple months, when he prepared for his start against the Marlins. Utley picked up something early.

  “His split, he would tip,” Utley said. “His glove would change shape a bit early on, but he cleaned it up.”

  “Those two guys, I mean, there will never be guys like that,” Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth said. “What I’ve seen -- and I’ve played with a lot of guys on a lot of teams -- preparation-wise, no one comes close to Roy Halladay and Chase Utley. They were the most prepared guys on the field every day. You try to have a conversation with those guys and forget it. But you put them in the video room and they can’t shut up.”

  Halladay might spend 90 minutes to two hours in the video room. He took breaks to get lunch.

  “Or who knows? Maybe run 10 miles or something,” Camiscioli said.

• Day 4 was not Halladay’s only day to study -- he typically went through three hitters a day -- but this was his final opportunity to review. He kept notes in his notebooks on every hitter. He constantly rewrote them. Camiscioli eventually digitized them. If Chris Carpenter faced the same team recently, Halladay watched that video because they were so similar. Halladay watched other right-handers too, along with his most recent plate appearances against each hitter. Hitters change. If they adjusted, Halladay found out.

  “For me, I wanted to see -- when in doubt -- where can I throw my fastball to this guy?” Halladay said. “It’s either usually in or away. If I have to throw a fastball in a 3-2 count, where can I throw it and not get killed? And then I wanted to know if he was better hitting a curveball or a changeup. It was very simple. I would do that, but I wouldn’t cheat myself. I made sure I got every guy on the roster.”

• The notes were remarkably detailed. Here is what Halladay had for Braves slugger Freddie Freeman and Brian McCann before a game on July 8, 2011, at Citizens Bank Park. Freeman was a rookie then.

  FREEMAN (L)
  FB -- cutt deep up in quick down in on plate, sink in edge must be in for freeze. Sink away down and expand will chase off, he’s good sink away up on plate. Back door cutt edge ok.
  CB -- cb very good early and often. Back door down middle down bounce and back foot big bounce.
  CH -- CH very good work down all across will wrist flip up middle and away.

  “He’s saying he can cut balls in and away, early-count curveballs away, changeups down and away,” Freeman said. “That’s spot on. That’s why he’s in the Hall of Fame. He did this. He could have easily said, ‘Oh, he’s a rookie. I’ll just go with what I want.’ He still took time to write down what he thought. That’s the thing. If I start doing something he can go in and change his notes.”

  Freeman batted .500 (8 for 16) with three home runs, nine RBIs, three walks, and two strikeouts in his career against Halladay. He homered off Halladay in the first pitch he ever saw against him (a cutter) in a pinch-hit at-bat on September 21, 2010. It was the first homer of Freeman’s career.

  “I got him in the Cy Young Award era for a couple years, but I wish I could have faced him all the way through his career,” Freeman said. “I think it would have been a great battle. Those were the games I was just trying to get a broken-bat hit. You’re really just grinding for a walk. What made him tough is that every pitch was competitive. When you throw 110 pitches, most of the guys now are throwers. You’re throwing 80 pitches that are competitive and the other 30 are balls right out of the hand. It’s nothing. It’s just like a pointless pitch. If he throws sinker in, it’s almost enough to make you swing at it. If it’s a changeup away, it’s on the right plane where you like, ‘Is that going to stay up?’ No, it’s gone. Now you’re 0-1 because you swung at it. Curveballs were always in the strike zone or below. Every pitch was competitive. That’s what separates guys from good to great.” 

• McCANN (L)

  Timing hitter.
  FB -- Quick belt in, cutt in above at hands or back foot get deep. sink away OK down, down is key will expand off. Back door cutt edge ok. Sink in edge only after cutt.
  CB -- CB very good all along bottom big expand chases, CB early and often, OK on back door hangers work down.
  CH -- CH down away must be to expand, very good FB counts.

  “Bulldog,” McCann said. “He tried to get you out within the first couple pitches. He came right at you. He made you hit his pitch. When you’re that good you’ve got to pick a side of the plate. You can’t cover both sides with No. 1’s. Pick a side, wherever you think he’s going to go and try to guess along with him.”

  Halladay studied on the plane too. The Phillies flew to Miami from New York on May 27. Most teammates watched movies, played cards, or slept. Halladay had two iPads and his notebooks spread across the tray tables in front of him. The iPad on the left had each hitter’s last 20 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers. The iPad on the right had Halladay’s last 10 plate appearances against each hitter. The dueling screens allowed him to study how each hitter approached right-handers most recently and how he attacked them most recently. If a hitter moved closer to the plate since the last time he faced him, he knew it and he adjusted.

  “He’s playing boureé, it just happens to be baseball and scouting,” Chad Durbin said.

  Halladay and Durbin had similar arsenals, although Durbin did not have the same stuff. But because they shared something in common he often sat behind Halladay on the plane and peeked over his shoulder.

  “I felt guilty,” Durbin said. “I’d be like, ‘These are the guys in the lineup that I’ll probably face.’ We had the same arsenal so we’d talk. I loved doing that. I’d pick his brain and stand next to him in the outfield. In those moments you just saw how he forgot where he was, what he was doing. He just wanted to talk baseball. So we’d talk about what shape we want that cutter to be to Daniel Murphy vs. someone who might drop down and get it. It was never just, ‘I think we need to throw a cutter.’ It was two balls above his belt, in the top of the zone, or miss off. Or, ‘I want my sinker to be flat against this guy, not depth.’ And he could make the ball do that stuff. He was just better at it than anyone. But knowing that stuff made all of us better. I’d watch him pitch from the bullpen and I’d know how to attack hitters and I’d have no questions about his convictions because I knew how hard he worked at it. I’d be like, ‘How do you get this guy out right now? I haven’t seen his last 10 at-bats.’ And he’d go, ‘I just looked at them.’ And he’s dead-on.”

  Halladay spent the week preparing physically and mentally for the Marlins. He was ready. (T Zolecki - MLB.com - May 18, 2020)

  
  
  

  TRANSACTION REPORT

• June 1995: The Blue Jays chose Roy in the first round, out of West High School in Denver.

• February 2000: Roy signed a three-year, $3.7 million contract with the Jays.

• January 22, 2004: Halladay signed a four-year, $42 million contract with the Blue Jays. It called for $6 million in 2004, $10.5 million in 2005, $12.7 million in 2006 and $12.8 million in 2007.

• March 16, 2006: Roy signed a a three-year (2008-2010), $40 million contract extension that takes him through the 2010 season with the Blue Jays. It called for  $10 million in 2008, $14.25 million in 2009 and $15.75 million in 2010.

• December 16, 2009: The Phillies sent RHP Kyle Drabek, OF Michael Taylor, and C Travis d'Arnaud to the Blue Jays, acquiring Halladay. (The Blue Jays then sent Taylor to the A's, acquiring 3B Brett Wallace.)

• December 9, 2013: Halladay announced he was retiring. And, he did it after signing a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, so that he could retire as a Jay.

• March 16, 2015: Halladay said he was more interested in a post-pitching career as a sports psychologist, filling the void Harvey Dorfman left when he died in 2011.

• Halladay fired a 92-97 mph four-seam FASTBALL until dropping velocity in 2012, but his KNUCKLE-CURVE is his out pitch.

  Roy was taught the knuckle-curve by Colorado's renowned pitching guru, Bus Campbell. That knuckle-curve compares favorably with the one thrown by former Dodger Burt Hooton. And Roy  throws his for strikes consistently.

  During 2013 spring training, Doc said he recognizes that every pitcher has to make the same transition at some point in their career. He watched Pat Hentgen and Roger Clemens do it successfully. In another era, Tom Seaver did it without missing a beat.

But he's wrong when he says that every pitcher makes the same transition. Some of them simply can't. Sometimes, ego is a factor. They're so accustomed to challenging hitters that they can't do it any other way. Other times, they simply can't. Once the fastball goes, location must be precise. Changing speeds and keeping hitters off balance is critical. Those are gifts, too, and not every pitcher is blessed with them. And that's what we just don't know about Roy Halladay at 35.

• Doc Halladay is the name you hear over and over again when you ask starting pitchers who they try to emulate. His work ethic is unsurpassed and he always conducts himself the right way. He throws strike after strike and gets batters to swing at the pitch he wants.
• The thing that makes Halladay perhaps the best pitcher alive, even more than the late movement of his devastating sinking fastball, is how narrow he can make his focus.
• The best indicator that Roy is pitching well is for him to be getting a plethora of ground balls.
• Hallday's power arm is impressive -- (or was). And that knuckle-curve just drops off the table. Also very impressive is that his arm position is the same for the heater or the knuckle-curve. He is at his best when he keeps his fastball down in the strike zone. His heater moves in on right handed hitters. He has learned to cut that fastball for extra movement.

• Halladay also has a great regular, normal CURVEBALL that has a short, tight break that can criplle a righthanded hitter. He also has a CUTTER to shut down lefthanded batters. And he has a CIRCLE CHANGEUP, a solid pitch. 

  Rather than use the cutter so much, Roy wants to use the sinking fastball on both sides of the plate and in situations when he used to depend heavily on the cutter.

  In 2010, Doc worked hard to improve his CHANGEUP, which had always been his 4th-best pitch behind his 2-seamer, cutter and curveball. He changed the grip on his changeup. Instead of nesting the ball in his palm, a technique that pitchers like Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer use to loosen their grip on the ball and lower its velocity while maintaining arm speed. He began using a split-finger grip.

• At6-foot-6, he is an intimidating figure on the mound. He has a good pitcher's body and durability, the latter a product of his cross-country experience in high school. In his senior year, he finished third in the state meet at Arvada West High School in Colorado.

• Halladay is getting more down movement on his fastball and getting more ground ball outs. He has the stuff to be dominating. He has learned to pitch inside effectively.
• "Doc" is calm and business-like on the mound like the more successful Big League pitchers are.
• Halladay works extremely fast. "Your second foot is getting into that [batter's] box, and he's already winding up," said former Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons a few years ago. "With a lot of movement and great control, it'll be one, two pitches and a grounder to second. He's the quickest 0 for 3 in the league."

• Doc is endeavoring to change, now that he's older. He pitches more on the corners and exploirs a hitters' weaknesses.

  "To me, it's a competition," he said late in 2013 spring training. "It's not a boxing match, it's not a strength vs. strength. It's a chess match. It's competition of the mind and execution and being smarter and being more prepared. To me, that's what I've enjoyed. That's what I've liked about baseball.

  "You look at a Jamie Moyer. He could compete with the best of them. He would've gotten knocked out in the first round if he was a boxer. It's just a different mentality. It's not about the strength and throwing harder and overpowering guys. It's about outsmarting and being more prepared and being more consistent. That to me is a challenge."

  LONG ROAD TO THE TOP

• In 1999, Roy came up as a highly touted pitcher without the strikeout totals to back it up. He put together a decent rookie season that looked a lot worse upon close inspection.
• In 2000, he completely fell to pieces. After going 2-4 with an 11.53 ERA in his first seven starts, Toronto moved Halladay out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen in June.

• In 2001, he went back to square one in the Florida State League, altered his arm angle, and put himself back together, with the help of minor league pitching coach Mel Queen. When he returned to the Jays' rotation in June 2001, he was a completely different pitcher—getting more strikeouts and groundouts than ever. Under the tutelage of Queen, Roy changed his entire delivery, from his windup to his arm angle to the grip on his four-seam fastball. It gave that 96 mph heater more movement.

  Halladay now comes from a three-quarters motion. Before, he came from over-the-top, with no movement on his straight-as-a-string fastball. Now Roy comes almost sidearm, giving his heater a sinking and cutting action.

• In 2001, Halladay only gave up three home runs in his 16 starts with Toronto, holding hitters to a .241 average.
• In 2002, Roy was fifth in the American League with his 2.93 ERA.And he led the league in innings pitched and made his first All-Star Game.

• Roy didn't really comprehend the mental part of baseball until 2002. "I'd get negative things in my head. You kind of let your mind overtake what you want to do."

  He consulted Harvey Dorfman, the Marlins former team psychologist to help him get out of that "the sky is falling" outlook. "He gave me an idea of the mental game of baseball," Halladay said. "That was something I had no idea about whatsoever. I didn't know how to handle failure, obviously, and didn't know how to create confidence. Sometimes, when things are going bad, you have no idea what to do. You don't know why they're bad, and you have no idea how to fix it, and you're trying to change everything. Now I have a better idea of what I can control."

• "I think for me, if I can throw strikes and have movement, I'm going to get a lot of guys swinging early. That's a big part of what I do," Roy said.
• Asked what changes he saw in Halladay in 2003, Jays teammate Carlos Delgado said, "Concentration is the biggest thing. I think he's got the ability to zero in on each task and nothing really distracts him. A bad call or an error or something never gets him out of his game. He goes back to the mound and you see him pitching with the same intensity when there's nobody on or guys in scoring position."

• Doc's manager with the Blue Jays when he really established himself as a star pitcher was Buck Martinez, now color TV man on SportsNet in Toronto, as well as TBS regular and post-season games.

  "(Halladay) has made himself into something that everybody's talking about now," Buck said, while summing up Doc's pitching as, "Greg Maddux with velocity." 

  2003 A.L. CY YOUNG AWARD

• During his fabulous 2003 season, Roy won 15 straight decisions over a span of three months, tying a record set by Walter Johnson in 1912. That mark had been tied four times, but only once in the last 60 years. The man who did it that time was Roger Clemens, a six-time Cy Young award winner.

• Halladay was the 2003 American League Cy Young winner.

  That year, he also became the first pitcher since Mike Cuellar in 1974 to win 22 games without winning before April 30.

  And he was the unanimous choice as 2010 National League Cy Young Award winner.

  That year, he became the fifth pitcher to earn the honor in both leagues, joining Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Gaylord Perry. He led the league in wins (21) and topped the majors in innings, shutouts and complete games.

• His most impressive achievement, though, was a late-season start against the Detroit Tigers. Halladay took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and settled for a 10-inning shutout -- the first of his career.

  Doc's 3-hitter against the Tigers September 7, 2003 was quite impressive. He pitched all 10 innings of the Blue Jays' 1-0 victory, becoming the first pitcher in the Major Leagues since Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series to toss an extra-inning shutout. Halladay needed just 99 pitches (70 strikes). He became the first Toronto pitcher to work 10 innings since John Cerutti in 1989.

• In 2011, Halladay  went 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA, ranking first in the NL in complete games (eight) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.29), was second in ERA and innings (223 2/3), third in wins and strikeouts (220), and fourth in WHIP (1.04).

• April 14, 2013: Doc won his 200th game.
  
  
• As of the start of the 2014 season, Roy had a career record of 203-105 with 3.38 ERA, having allowed 236 home runs and 2,646 hits in 2,749 innings.

• Roy fields his position well.
• He does not hold runners on base very well.

• Halladay is a pretty decent hitter for a pitcher.

• 1998: Halladay was sidelined for a month with a strained right shoulder.
• September 1999: Roy strained his pectoral muscle.

• 2001: Roy spent time on the D.L. early in the season, returning to action May 23.

• May 28-June 12, 2004: Halladay was on the D.L. with soreness in his right shoulder.

• July 17–September 21, 2004: Roy was back on the D.L. with what was described as a "tired shoulder." Six weeks of rest was prescribed.

• July 8–November, 2005: Halladay was on the D.L. for the rest of the season after breaking a bone (the tibia) in his left leg when he was struck in the shin by a line drive off the bat of Rangers' OF Kevin Mench. Roy picked up the ball and threw out Mench at first base from a seated position, then rolled to his side grimacing in pain.

  Teammates, manager John Gibbons, and trainer George Poulis rushed to Halladay, who was on the ground for about two minutes. Halladay got to his feet and walked slowly to the dugout.

• September 21, 2006: The Blue Jays shut Doc down for the last 10 days of the season because of a strained right forearm. A good deal of his problem was from throwing his cutter. So now, he doesn't throw it as often, especially in practice—saving his bullets for the real game.

• May 11–31, 2007: Halladay required an appendectomy, having being diagnosed with appendicitis.

• June 12-29, 2009: Roy strained his right groin and had to go on the D.L.

• May 28-July 17, 2012: Halladay was on the D.L. with a right latissimus dorsi strain. He left his start the day before with a sore right shoulder after two innings.

• May 6-August 25, 2013: Doc was placed on the 15-day disabled because of inflammation in his right shoulder.
  
  A couple of days later he underwent surgery to repair and clean up a bone spur, the rotator cuff and the labrum. It was hoped he could pitch late in the season.

• When Halladay announced he was retiring from the game in December, 2013, he talked about how his body could no longer handle the demands of pitching.

  “My back really became an issue for me,” Halladay said. “I have two pars fractures, an eroded disk between the L4 and L5, and there is a significant setback in there where the nerves are being pinched. It made it hard to pitch with the mechanics I want to pitch with. Over the last two years, I’ve made some changes to be able to throw the ball, and unfortunately, that’s led to some shoulder issues.

  “Speaking with the doctors, they feel at this point, if I can step back and take some of the high-level pressure off (the back), it will allow me to do some regular things.”