Roy Halladay honored by Blue Jays in tearful, poignant jersey retirement ceremony
The Toronto Blue Jays, for the first time in franchise history, did not have a ceremonial first pitch Thursday for their season opener.
Merely, the baseball was brought out to the mound by Braden and Ryan Halladay, placed on a black cushion at the foot of the mound, and left alone out of respect for their father and the Blue Jays’ fallen hero.
The sellout crowd at Rogers Centre stood in silence and remembered the man whose number, 32, was now hanging from the rafters: Roy Halladay.
Halladay, joining only Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar to have his number retired by the Blue Jays, died Nov. 7, 2017 in a plane accident in the Gulf of Mexico near his Tampa-area home.
He may be gone, but the Blue Jays plan to celebrate his legacy forever, remembering the two-time Cy Young winner who’s eligible for the 2019 Hall of Fame.
“He was a special guy,’’ Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “On the field he was just as good as anybody. You’re never going to find a harder worker. And off the field, he was an introvert. He liked to keep to himself.
“He had tremendous respect for the game.’’
The Blue Jays showed their respect in a poignant pre-game ceremony that pushed back the start of their opener against the New York Yankees by nearly 45 minutes. The Halladay family, with wife, Brandi, and Halladay’s two teenage sons, walked onto the field and were greeted one-by-one by eight of Halladay’s former teammates – from Scott Rolen to Chris Carpenter – and two-time World Series manager Cito Gaston.
Soon, Isaac McFadyen, 13, diagnosed with the rare enzyme deficiency syndrome MPS VI in 2005, and a beneficiary of Halladay’s charitable foundation called Doc’s Box that was dedicated to the Hospital for Sick Children, walked onto the field and immediately to Brandi for a hug.
The Blue Jays aired a 15-minute video honoring Halladay’s exploits, before Gibbons walked out and presented each son with one of their father’s jerseys.
The Blue Jays culminated the ceremony by officially retiring Halladay’s number, with 32 dropping from the rafters . Brandi Halladay kept wiping away tears as the banner was displayed. A smile creased her face as the song, “Bad Case of Loving you,’’ blared over the speakers.
“Good song,’’ Brandi Halladay said, remembering its popularity, thanks to the “Doctor, doctor” refrain, when Halladay pitched.
They walked off the field together, perhaps never knowing exactly what happened that day when autopsy reports revealed that Halladay had high concentrations of morphine and amphetamine in his system, along with the presence of an antidepressant.
It was a drug combination similar to a speedball, forensic pathologist Burr Hartman told USA TODAY at the time of the autopsy report.
Those details weren’t on the minds of those in attendance on Thursday. They know Halladay is gone forever.
But the Blue Jays, and a packed house at the Rogers Centre, made sure Thursday that he will never be forgotten.
Source:-https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2018/03/29/roy-halladay-honored-blue-jays-tearful-poignant-jersey-retirement-ceremony/470981002/
