Blue Jays: Roy Halladay’s 41st Birthday

Roy Halladay, a Toronto Blue Jays legend, would be 41 years old today. Following a tragic plane crash that took his life, Doc was immortalized by the franchise with a retired number and a patch on the 2018 jerseys.

Roy Halladay would be 41 today. The former superstar pitcher, who was born in Denver, Colorado, lost his life in November of 2017 when he was involved in an aviation accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is impossible to understate Doc’s dominance on the mound during his career. During 16 years in the bigs, he pitched to a 3.38 ERA with a record of 203-105. He won two Cy Young Awards and was named an All-Star on eight different occasions. He finished up his career with 2117 strikeouts, 69th all-time. He currently sits 24th all-time in SO/W and 37th all-time in Adjusted ERA+. He had eight seasons in which he pitched more than 200 innings, and had 20 or more wins three times.

He is 2nd in Blue Jays franchise history in wins, strikeouts, and shutouts, trailing only Dave Stieb in those categories. To this day, he is one of only three Blue Jay pitchers to win a Cy Young Award, the others being Pat Hentgen and Roger Clemens, the latter of which won the award twice while playing in Toronto. In 2010, while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, Halladay became just the 10th pitcher in National League history to unanimously win a Cy Young Award.

Off the field, Roy Halladay was a generous, kind person with a deep love for the city of Toronto. During his tenure with the Jays, Halladay donated $100,000 each year to the Jays Care Foundation. He and his wife Brandy would also invite families of patients at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children to sit in “Doc’s Box”, a private suite at Rogers Centre.

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Roy Halladay will be eligible for induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. For many reasons, it’s possible that he’ll get some Hall of Fame votes when his time rolls around next year.

He was an amazing human being who exemplified the Canadian spirit and was one of the few American athletes who were proud to play north of the border. When he left for Philadelphia, Jays fans were happy for him. He’d given all he had to the Jays, but they couldn’t get him a ring. At that point, he was leaving the city with pride and a sense of achievement. Toronto Blue Jays had never been so happy to watch a superstar leave the city.

On this day, we should make it our mission to remember Roy Halladay. For many of us, he embodied an era of baseball that is looked upon with nothing but fondness and happiness. I for one was first introduced to baseball by watching Doc take the mound during the angry bird days. In a period where Blue Jays baseball was mediocre and unexciting, Canadian baseball fans had a reason to get excited every fifth day.

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