Roy Halladay Dead In Plane Crash: Sport Aircraft Owned By 2-Time Cy Young Winner Goes Down In Gulf Of Mexico
Roy Halladay, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who in 2010 became only the second pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in a Major League Baseball postseason game, died in a crash of his private plane on Tuesday, according to a report by WTSP TV News in Tampa, Florida. Halladay was reportedly piloting the small sport aircraft when it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico about 10 miles off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Halladay was 40-years-old. He was flying an ICON A5 light sport aircraft, a plane which he had apparently acquired only last month, according to posts on the likely Hall of Famer’s Twitter account. In fact, the ICON company published an article on its website about Halladay after he received one of the first 2018 A5 models.
“I’ve been dreaming about flying since I was a boy but was only able to become a pilot once I retired from baseball,” the article quoted Halladay as saying. “I’ve owned other aircraft, but no aircraft embodies the adventure or captured the dream of flying like the A5. Not only is it the safest and easiest aircraft I’ve ever flown, it is hands-down the most fun.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, no information was available as to what might have caused the fatal crash, which took place at about 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday.
I’m really not big on posting pic’s of my stuff and I’ll never be on Cribs… but this A5 is so outrageous I’d feel guilty not sharing pics! pic.twitter.com/UUmZMfgsff
— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) October 17, 2017
Halladay becomes eligible to enter the Hall of Fame on the 2019 ballot after retiring from baseball following the 2013 season due to chronic back injuries. The Colorado native was drafted in the first round, 17th overall, out of Arvada High School in Colorado by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1995. He made his Major League debut on September 20, 1998, at age 21 — a game in which he threw five innings against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, striking out five while allowing just two earned runs.
He remained with Toronto through the 2009 season, winning 148 games for the franchise while losing just 76. But the Blue Jays never qualified for the postseason during Halladay’s tenure with the team. In 2009, the Blue Jays traded Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he pitched in the playoffs in both 2010 and 2011 — throwing his historic no-hitter on October 6, 2010, against the Cincinnati Reds in the opening game of that year’s National League Division Series.
Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award with Toronto in 2003, and seven years later, he won the National League award in his first year with the Phillies. He won 21 against 10 losses in 2010 for Philadelphia, throwing a league-leading 250 2/3 innings.
“We are numb over the very tragic news about Roy Halladay’s untimely death,” the Phillies organization said in a written statement on Tuesday. “There are no words to describe the sadness that the entire Phillies family is feeling over the loss of one of the most respected human beings to ever play the game.”
A local TV station in Tampa aired video taken by a viewer, showing the aftermath of the plane crash that killed Halladay — who was the pilot and only passenger of the small plane — as the ICON A5 floated upside down in what was reported to be just six feet of water.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were reported to be on their way the crash site late Tuesday, and their findings would determine the cause of the crash, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Earlier the same year that he pitched only the second postseason no-hitter in Major League history, on May 29, 2010, Halladay threw a perfect game, only the 20th ever recorded in the Major Leagues, dominating the Miami Marlins.
Roy Halladay is survived by his wife, Brandy, and their two sons, Braden and Ryan.
[Featured Image by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images]
