11-08-2017, 04:21 AM
Roy Halladay, great MLB pitcher:
Roy Halladay reached the pinnacle of his profession on an 85-degree night in Miami in May 2010, when he dominated the Florida Marlins over 2 hours, 13 minutes for the 20th perfect game in MLB history. Three months later, he commemorated the occasion by giving 60 Philadelphia Phillies teammates, coaches, the training staff and other support personnel engraved Baume & Mercier watches in boxes with the inscription, "We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay."
Many of the 60 recipients committed to wearing the watches in subsequent years because Halladay was such an authentic sort, and he wouldn't have made such a heartfelt gesture for strictly ceremonial purposes. The perfect game was a team achievement, in his eyes, so it would have been disrespectful to bring the keepsakes home and just leave them in the boxes.
"I still wear my watch all the time," former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "My brother David got me a Rolex one year, and he said, 'How come you don't wear my watch?' And I said, 'I don't wear your watch because Roy Halladay gave me this watch.'"
Roy Halladay, 1977-2017
![[Image: mlb_u_halladay01jr_576.jpg]](http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0213/mlb_u_halladay01jr_576.jpg)
Coverage chronicling the former MLB star's storied career.
Baseball received a gut punch of indescribable magnitude Tuesday afternoon, with the news that Halladay, 40, had died in a plane crash off the Florida coast. Circumstances are different in each case, and the vigil is more excruciating while playing out on social media, but the announcement from the Pasco County Sheriff's office left the same sad, helpless void that accompanied the deaths of Thurman Munson, Darryl Kile, Steve Olin and Tim Crews, Jose Fernandez and so many other young ballplayers who died before their time. Hauntingly, Halladay shared the same fate as his former Toronto and Philadelphia teammate, pitcher Cory Lidle, who died in a single-engine plane crash in New York City in 2006.
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Roy Halladay reached the pinnacle of his profession on an 85-degree night in Miami in May 2010, when he dominated the Florida Marlins over 2 hours, 13 minutes for the 20th perfect game in MLB history. Three months later, he commemorated the occasion by giving 60 Philadelphia Phillies teammates, coaches, the training staff and other support personnel engraved Baume & Mercier watches in boxes with the inscription, "We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay."
Many of the 60 recipients committed to wearing the watches in subsequent years because Halladay was such an authentic sort, and he wouldn't have made such a heartfelt gesture for strictly ceremonial purposes. The perfect game was a team achievement, in his eyes, so it would have been disrespectful to bring the keepsakes home and just leave them in the boxes.
"I still wear my watch all the time," former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "My brother David got me a Rolex one year, and he said, 'How come you don't wear my watch?' And I said, 'I don't wear your watch because Roy Halladay gave me this watch.'"
Roy Halladay, 1977-2017
Coverage chronicling the former MLB star's storied career.
Baseball received a gut punch of indescribable magnitude Tuesday afternoon, with the news that Halladay, 40, had died in a plane crash off the Florida coast. Circumstances are different in each case, and the vigil is more excruciating while playing out on social media, but the announcement from the Pasco County Sheriff's office left the same sad, helpless void that accompanied the deaths of Thurman Munson, Darryl Kile, Steve Olin and Tim Crews, Jose Fernandez and so many other young ballplayers who died before their time. Hauntingly, Halladay shared the same fate as his former Toronto and Philadelphia teammate, pitcher Cory Lidle, who died in a single-engine plane crash in New York City in 2006.
More from ESPN
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.