Brotherly Love From A Philadelphian
I love Roy Halladay.As Alex pointed out, we tend to analyze and overanalyze our athletes these days, and that’s all well and good. We should use advanced metrics, more details and learn as much as we possibly can about our athletes.
But Alex is right — with Roy, it’s as simple love. The love of the game. The love of the work. The love of a player who always shows up, always works his tail off, always takes the ball and always gives it what he’s got — which just so happened to be better than anything else anyone else had on most nights.
Yes, Roy Hallady was only in Philadelphia for four of his 16 MLB seasons, and injuries and age made him a stranger in the final two. But I love Roy Halladay nonetheless, and I love him for so many reasons.
For starters, Roy Halladay chose to come to Philadelphia. Yes, he was technically traded to the Phillies, but he was the one who chose Philadelphia as his destination. The best pitcher in baseball, the one Toronto player who was the envy of the Yankees and Red Sox and everyone else, chose to come to Philadelphia in his quest for that elusive World Series ring.
That alone made Phillies fans so happy that some brilliant genius started a blog with the express purpose of going to the zoo with him.
The second he donned those red pinstripes, every Phillies fans imagined more parades down Broad Street, a dynasty led by the best pitcher in baseball. We had heard all about Roy Halladay, but we only knew what we heard. I hadn’t watched much of Halladay over the years, him playing for an American League squad that didn’t exactly conjure good memories for Phillies fans. But the expectations were so sky-high it would be near impossible for anyone to meet them.
Anyone but Roy Halladay, that is. Because not only did Roy live up to expectations, but he far, far exceeded them. In his first season, all he did was toss a perfect game, win a Cy Young, dominate from start to finish and lead the Phillies to the best record in all of baseball. Then, in his long-awaited postseason debut, he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds and later staved off elimination pitching with a pulled groin.
It was far and away the greatest pitching season I’ve ever seen from a Phillie, and he damn near did it again in 2011.
Roy Halladay was perfect. Roy Halladay was masterful. And Roy Halladay made everyone believe he could do damn near anything. He struck out batters yet was economical with his pitches. Walks were a four-letter word for him. He threw more complete games, more innings than all the rest. And he just kept going and going and going, giving his team not only a good chance to win every five days, but an absurdly great chance to win.
Watching him the past two seasons struggle with injury and age and command was one of the most difficult things to take, witnessing a legend fade. Here was the workhorse who made us believe, the workhorse who made Blue Jays fans believe and Phillies fans believe and baseball fans believe, failing to be what he always was.
But these past two seasons haven’t change a damn thing. Halladay — injured, aged, battered — kept going out there, kept taking the ball, kept working his ass off and kept making no excuses. For 16 seasons, he dominated the way few ever have. And in five more years, he should be taking his rightful place in Cooperstown.
This morning, Roy Halladay took out an ad in the Philadelphia Daily News thanking the Phillies and the fans, being the class act that he is. But really, he shouldn’t be thanking us. We all should be thanking him.
I love Roy Halladay, and I sure as shit would love to go to the zoo with him. — Joe aka @RevPaulRevere
- See more at: http://www.thesportsfanjournal.com/sports/baseball/roy-halladay-workhorse-made-believe/2/#sthash.gYBPF6Vr.dpuf
Brotherly Love From A Philadelphian
I love Roy Halladay.
As Alex pointed out, we tend to analyze and overanalyze our athletes these days, and that’s all well and good. We should use advanced metrics, more details and learn as much as we possibly can about our athletes.
But Alex is right — with Roy, it’s as simple love. The love of the game. The love of the work. The love of a player who always shows up, always works his tail off, always takes the ball and always gives it what he’s got — which just so happened to be better than anything else anyone else had on most nights.
Yes, Roy Hallady was only in Philadelphia for four of his 16 MLB seasons, and injuries and age made him a stranger in the final two. But I love Roy Halladay nonetheless, and I love him for so many reasons.
For starters, Roy Halladay chose to come to Philadelphia. Yes, he was technically traded to the Phillies, but he was the one who chose Philadelphia as his destination. The best pitcher in baseball, the one Toronto player who was the envy of the Yankees and Red Sox and everyone else, chose to come to Philadelphia in his quest for that elusive World Series ring.
That alone made Phillies fans so happy that some brilliant genius started a blog with the express purpose of going to the zoo with him.
The second he donned those red pinstripes, every Phillies fans imagined more parades down Broad Street, a dynasty led by the best pitcher in baseball. We had heard all about Roy Halladay, but we only knew what we heard. I hadn’t watched much of Halladay over the years, him playing for an American League squad that didn’t exactly conjure good memories for Phillies fans. But the expectations were so sky-high it would be near impossible for anyone to meet them.
Anyone but Roy Halladay, that is. Because not only did Roy live up to expectations, but he far, far exceeded them. In his first season, all he did was toss a perfect game, win a Cy Young, dominate from start to finish and lead the Phillies to the best record in all of baseball. Then, in his long-awaited postseason debut, he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds and later staved off elimination pitching with a pulled groin.
It was far and away the greatest pitching season I’ve ever seen from a Phillie, and he damn near did it again in 2011.
Roy Halladay was perfect. Roy Halladay was masterful. And Roy Halladay made everyone believe he could do damn near anything. He struck out batters yet was economical with his pitches. Walks were a four-letter word for him. He threw more complete games, more innings than all the rest. And he just kept going and going and going, giving his team not only a good chance to win every five days, but an absurdly great chance to win.
Watching him the past two seasons struggle with injury and age and command was one of the most difficult things to take, witnessing a legend fade. Here was the workhorse who made us believe, the workhorse who made Blue Jays fans believe and Phillies fans believe and baseball fans believe, failing to be what he always was.
But these past two seasons haven’t change a damn thing. Halladay — injured, aged, battered — kept going out there, kept taking the ball, kept working his ass off and kept making no excuses. For 16 seasons, he dominated the way few ever have. And in five more years, he should be taking his rightful place in Cooperstown.
This morning, Roy Halladay took out an ad in the Philadelphia Daily News thanking the Phillies and the fans, being the class act that he is. But really, he shouldn’t be thanking us. We all should be thanking him.
I love Roy Halladay, and I sure as shit would love to go to the zoo with him.
Brotherly Love From A Philadelphian
I love Roy Halladay.As Alex pointed out, we tend to analyze and overanalyze our athletes these days, and that’s all well and good. We should use advanced metrics, more details and learn as much as we possibly can about our athletes.
But Alex is right — with Roy, it’s as simple love. The love of the game. The love of the work. The love of a player who always shows up, always works his tail off, always takes the ball and always gives it what he’s got — which just so happened to be better than anything else anyone else had on most nights.
Yes, Roy Hallady was only in Philadelphia for four of his 16 MLB seasons, and injuries and age made him a stranger in the final two. But I love Roy Halladay nonetheless, and I love him for so many reasons.
For starters, Roy Halladay chose to come to Philadelphia. Yes, he was technically traded to the Phillies, but he was the one who chose Philadelphia as his destination. The best pitcher in baseball, the one Toronto player who was the envy of the Yankees and Red Sox and everyone else, chose to come to Philadelphia in his quest for that elusive World Series ring.
That alone made Phillies fans so happy that some brilliant genius started a blog with the express purpose of going to the zoo with him.
The second he donned those red pinstripes, every Phillies fans imagined more parades down Broad Street, a dynasty led by the best pitcher in baseball. We had heard all about Roy Halladay, but we only knew what we heard. I hadn’t watched much of Halladay over the years, him playing for an American League squad that didn’t exactly conjure good memories for Phillies fans. But the expectations were so sky-high it would be near impossible for anyone to meet them.
Anyone but Roy Halladay, that is. Because not only did Roy live up to expectations, but he far, far exceeded them. In his first season, all he did was toss a perfect game, win a Cy Young, dominate from start to finish and lead the Phillies to the best record in all of baseball. Then, in his long-awaited postseason debut, he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds and later staved off elimination pitching with a pulled groin.
It was far and away the greatest pitching season I’ve ever seen from a Phillie, and he damn near did it again in 2011.
Roy Halladay was perfect. Roy Halladay was masterful. And Roy Halladay made everyone believe he could do damn near anything. He struck out batters yet was economical with his pitches. Walks were a four-letter word for him. He threw more complete games, more innings than all the rest. And he just kept going and going and going, giving his team not only a good chance to win every five days, but an absurdly great chance to win.
Watching him the past two seasons struggle with injury and age and command was one of the most difficult things to take, witnessing a legend fade. Here was the workhorse who made us believe, the workhorse who made Blue Jays fans believe and Phillies fans believe and baseball fans believe, failing to be what he always was.
But these past two seasons haven’t change a damn thing. Halladay — injured, aged, battered — kept going out there, kept taking the ball, kept working his ass off and kept making no excuses. For 16 seasons, he dominated the way few ever have. And in five more years, he should be taking his rightful place in Cooperstown.
This morning, Roy Halladay took out an ad in the Philadelphia Daily News thanking the Phillies and the fans, being the class act that he is. But really, he shouldn’t be thanking us. We all should be thanking him.
I love Roy Halladay, and I sure as shit would love to go to the zoo with him. — Joe aka @RevPaulRevere
- See more at: http://www.thesportsfanjournal.com/sports/baseball/roy-halladay-workhorse-made-believe/2/#sthash.gYBPF6Vr.dpuf
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