The late former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.Β Halladay died in November 2017 at 40 years old when an airplane he was flying crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.
Before the Blue Jays picked him in the first round of 1995 draft, Halladay had been committed to play for the 1996 Arizona Wildcats. Recruited by the late Jerry Kindall, Halladay signed a national letter of intent at UA the year prior to being drafted.
HalladayΒ elected to forgo a collegiate career to turn pro. He made his first major league appearance for Toronto in 1998.
Halladay earned 85.4 percent of the 425 voters' approval in his first time on the ballot, well over the 75 percent needed for enshrinement. He became the first player inducted after his death since Deacon White in 2013 and Ron Santo in 2012.
Halladay was one of four players voted in by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, joining Yankees closer Mariano Rivera β the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection β Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez and Yankees/Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina.
Wanted to see the oldest article I could find about Roy Halladay. Here you goβNov. 23, 1994 Arizona Daily Star. Nearly 29 years later, he's a Hall of Famer. RIP. #BaseballHallofFame pic.twitter.com/P5frgOx2Lr
— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) January 23, 2019
Halladay won two Cy Young Awards, one each with Toronto and Philadelphia, before ending his career in 2013 at 36 years old due to back injuries.
The right-hander debuted in the majors in 1998 and struggled terribly until being demoted to the minor leagues in 2001. With the help of sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, Halladay reinvented himself and became an All-Star in 2002, then won 22 games and an AL Cy Young in 2003.
Halladay's best season came in 2010, his first following a blockbuster trade to Philadelphia. Halladay pitched a perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May, then delivered a no-hitter against Cincinnati in the opener of the NL Division Series. It was just the second no-hitter in postseason history after the Yankees' Don Larsen pitched a perfect game against Brooklyn in the 1956 World Series.
In an era marked by pitch counts and early hooks, Halladay was a workhorse. Since 2000, Halladay's 65 complete games are by far the most in the majors β Livan Hernandez is second at 39.
The only other player elected on the first ballot posthumously was Christy Mathewson in 1936. Roberto Clemente was elected by a special election in 1973 after dying in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972.
