Citing a desire to avoid surgery for an ailing back and wanting to
spend more time with his family, two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay retired Monday after 16 seasons in the major leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies.
The 36-year-old right-hander signed a one-day contract to retire as a
member of the Blue Jays, where he spent the first 12 years of his
career. He choked up and held back tears while making the announcement
at a news conference at the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
"As a baseball player, you realize that's something you can't do the
rest of your life," Halladay said. "I really don't have any regrets."
"As a baseball player, you realize that's something you can't do the rest of your life. I really don't have any regrets.
”
-- Roy Halladay
Halladay played for the Phillies from 2010-13, finishing with two
injury-plagued seasons. He won an NL Cy Young Award in 2010, throwing a
perfect game that season and a no-hitter in his first postseason
appearance.
Halladay was 203-105 with a 3.38 ERA in 416 career games, including 390 starts. He had 67 complete games and 20 shutouts.
"It's been a very exciting process for me," he said. "I feel very
good about it. There's always going to be things I miss. As much as I
worked out, I'm not going to miss it. I'm not going to miss the cuffed
weights and running poles."
Halladay was a six-time All-Star, won the 2003
AL Cy Young Award and
went 148-76 with a 3.43 ERA in 12 seasons with the Blue Jays. He was
traded to the Phillies after the 2009 season, and was 40-16 with a 2.40
ERA in his first two years in Philadelphia. But back and shoulder issues
limited Halladay in 2012-13. He was 15-13 with a 5.15 ERA in 38 starts.
Former teammates were effusive in their praise for Halladay.
Chase Utley called him "the ultimate competitor."
"He is by far the hardest worker that I've ever seen and treated
every game as if it were his last," Utley said. "It was no coincidence
why he was the best pitcher of his era. I'm honored to have had the
opportunity to watch him pitch for four years. I'll miss his presence
and passion but, most of all, I will miss his intensity."
Roy Oswalt said Halladay was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"Roy was one of the best pitchers and students of the game I've ever
had the honor of playing with," Oswalt said. "Hands down, he was the
best pitcher of this era."
Halladay had shoulder surgery during the season and returned in
September, but clearly wasn't right. He was 4-5 with a 6.82 ERA in 13
starts this year.
"It's so much fun to play the game and go out and compete," he said.
"I looked forward to that fifth day more than anything. To go out there
and know it's not going to feel good and I wasn't going to do it the way
I wanted was frustrating. I tried to give everything I can but
something was holding me back. I felt I couldn't give them what I wanted
to."
Halladay badly wanted to play for the Phillies to have a chance at
winning the World Series. The Phillies had already won three straight
division championships, the 2008 World Series and 2009 NL championship
by the time Halladay arrived. They had the best record in the majors in
Halladay's first two seasons, but lost to the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 NLCS and St. Louis Cardinals in the 2011 NL division series.
In his final postseason performance, Halladay lost to Chris Carpenter
and the Cardinals 1-0 in the decisive Game 5 of that 2011 matchup.
Earlier in the series, the Cardinals were spurred when a Rally Squirrel
scampered on the field.
"I think the one thing I took away from that is you can have the best
team on paper, you can have the guys who want it the most," Halladay
said. "But when the squirrel runs across home plate while your team is
trying to pitch, there is nothing you can do about that. So you really
start to realize there are a lot of things out of your control. It takes
more than nine guys. It takes nine guys, and it takes the 25 on the
roster. It takes the coaches, the staff, and it takes a lot of luck."
Information from The Associated Press and ESPN.com's Jayson Stark was used in this report.