Honoring Roy Halladay’s Legacy
Yesterday, May 14th, marked what would have been Roy Halladay’s 47th birthday. Looking back on his career, Halladay’s career was a good example of showing leadership both on and off the field. Any baseball fan who grew up in the 2000s or early 2010s likely remembers watching him dominate. The Hall of Famer and eight-time All-Star was among Major League Baseball’s best for a long time, winning Cy Young awards six years apart, both in 2003 and 2009. He pitched the 20th perfect game in MLB history on May 29th, 2010, and later that year threw a no-hitter in the postseason, only the second player in MLB history to do so. He also started the All-Star Game on July 12th, 2011. He picked up 203 wins in his 16-year career posted an ERA of 3.38 and led the league in innings pitched in four different seasons throughout his career. Halladay is undoubtedly one of the most dominant pitchers of the 21st century and is often regarded as one of the best pitchers of all time. Halladay’s death in 2017 was a horrible shock to the sports world, but his legacy has lived on.
Halladay was regarded as someone who saw the importance of doing more than just playing his sport, as he gave back to his community through fundraisers and charity donations. As part of Halladay’s contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, he donated $100,000 each year to the Jays Care Foundation. Halladay’s work spanned many places off the field, as he also had very close ties with The Hospital for Sick Children, formerly known as SickKids. He and his wife ran a program called “Doc’s Box”, during his time in Toronto, which involved reserving box seats for sick children to watch Blue Jays’ games. The title of this program was inspired by his nickname, “Doc”, which was given to him by former Blue Jays’ announcer Tom Cheek and is supposed to be a fun play on the famous Doc Holliday. Holliday was a gunslinger, which plays well into the nickname.
Numbers-wise, Doc is the best pitcher in Blue Jays history. His legacy, however, both baseball-wise and humanitarian-wise, was carried with him wherever he went. Halladay was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on January 21st, 2019, and was inducted on July 21st, 2019. While the baseball world misses Holladay immensely, it’s important to carry on his spirit and celebrate his life, accomplishments, and the person he was. That’s definitely what he would have wanted.
