Doc's Hall plaque to have no team logo
According to family, neutral cap a tribute to importance of both Blue Jays and Phillies
Roy Halladay's Hall of Fame plaque will not bear a Blue Jays or a Phillies logo, because of how much both franchises meant to him.
The late right-hander's wife, Brandy, explained the family's decision Wednesday after a news conference honoring the Hall's 2019 class. Halladay was elected as a first-ballot Hall of Famer on Tuesday with 85.4 percent of the vote.
"We decided … there's no way to decide between the two teams," Brandy Halladay said. "I know we spent the majority of our time in Toronto. Toronto gave us that chance, that base, that start. But Philly also gave us a chance to win and a ring and the passion that we wanted. And there's no way to choose. And so we decided that he'll go in with no team [on his cap].
"I honestly didn't know that was an option. I just assumed that decision should probably be made for us. We think that -- we talked about this -- that this is the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. It's not the Phillies Hall of Fame, it's not the Blue Jays Hall of Fame. Roy is going in as a Major League Baseball player. And I think that's important. That's what he is. And I hope that he represents something to all of baseball and not just to Phillies or Blue Jays fans, but to baseball in the whole. And so that's how I think he should be represented there."
Roy Halladay was drafted by and pitched his first 12 Major League seasons for the Blue Jays, making six All-Star teams and winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2003. He only pitched four years for the Phillies after being traded, but he had some of his most memorable moments with Philadelphia -- throwing a perfect game on May 29, 2010, and a no-hitter in his postseason debut later that year on Oct. 6, as well as winning his second Cy Young Award.
Roy Halladay's playing career ended with the Phillies in 2013, but he also signed a ceremonial one-day contract to retire as a Blue Jay that December, so it seemed at the time that he might identify with Toronto.
One of Roy Halladay's fellow 2019 Hall of Fame electees, Mike Mussina, has yet to decide what cap he will don on his Cooperstown plaque. Mussina split his 18-year career between the Orioles (10 seasons) and Yankees (eight seasons), and he could fittingly go in with either logo -- or neither, like Roy Halladay.