Roy Halladay

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Lore & Background

Raised in Arvada, Colorado, Halladay pitched at Arvada West High School before being drafted 17th overall by the Blue Jays in the 1995 MLB draft. He made his major league debut in 1998, nearly pitching a no-hitter in his second career start. After struggling in 2000, he was demoted to the low minor leagues, where he reworked his delivery and pitching. In 2002, Halladay established himself as a durable, elite starting pitcher, earning his first All-Star selection. The following year, he won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award and led the AL in complete games, which he accomplished five times in seven seasons, through 2009. Traded to the Phillies before the 2010 season, he pitched both the 20th perfect game and the second postseason no-hitter in major league history, led the majors in shutouts for the second consecutive year, and won the National League (NL) Cy Young Award. In 2011, Halladay had another dominant season, leading the NL in complete games, but he was plagued by injuries the next two years. After the 2013 season, he announced his retirement. On November 7, 2017, Halladay died when he crashed his Icon A5 amphibious plane into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. He was 40 years old. The following year the Blue Jays organization retired his number 32; the Phillies retired his number 34 in 2021. In 2019, Halladay was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

In Their Own Story

The game began at 7:13 p.m. before a crowd of 25,086 at Sun Life Stadium. Halladay's first pitch, a 92 m.p.h. fastball for a called strike to Chris Coghlan, came at 7:17 p.m. He threw 19 pitches in the first inning, his most of the night, finishing with 115 total pitches and 72 strikes. Despite being known as a ground ball pitcher, he struck out 11 batters, four using his sinker. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Mike Lamb flied out deep to Shane Victorino; Halladay thought he had lost the perfect game until Victorino flagged the ball down in center field, noting later, "I was going to do whatever it took." For the second out, Wes Helms struck out looking. The final play saw Ronny Paulino hit a hard chopper to third baseman Juan Castro, who reached wide to his left, spun, and threw to first base to preserve the perfect game.

Reader's Guide

Born in Denver, Colorado, Halladay grew up in the suburb of Arvada; his father, Harry Leroy Halladay II, was a pilot for a food-processing company, who began teaching his son to fly during the younger Halladay's early childhood; his mother, Linda, was a homemaker. Halladay was raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though he did not practice later in life. From an early age, Halladay loved baseball, trying every position on the field until, by age 14, his success on the pitcher's mound attracted the attention of major league scouts. By the age of 13, he had begun training with Colorado baseball guru Bus Campbell, who had helped almost every promising pitcher from the Denver area, including Goose Gossage and Brad Lidge. Halladay attended Arvada West High School, where he led the school's baseball team to a 6A state championship in 1994. In 1995, after graduating from high school, he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the amateur draft, in the first round, as the 17th overall pick. Halladay decided to forego his college baseball commitment to Arizona and sign with Toronto. He was promoted to the major-league club as a September call-up in 1998.

Did You Know?

• In his second career start, against the Detroit Tigers on September 27, 1998, Halladay had what would have been the third no-hitter ever pitched on the final day of a regular season broken up with two outs in the ninth.
• In 2000, Halladay posted a 10.64 ERA in 19 games, making his 2000 season the worst in history for any pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched.
• Halladay pitched the first extra-inning shutout in the major leagues since Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, leading the Blue Jays to victory over the Tigers on September 6, 2003.
• On July 8, 2005, Halladay's leg was broken by a line drive off the bat of Texas Rangers left fielder Kevin Mench.