Former MLB and Cy Young winning pitcher Roly Halladay died in a plane crash off of the Gulf of Mexico. He was 40-years-old.
Halladay was the Blue Jays’ first draft selection in the 1995 MLB draft, the 17th pick overall, and played for the team from 1998 through 2009, after which he was traded to Philadelphia.
via ESPN:
Roy Halladay, a two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher who retired from baseball nearly four years ago, has died in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida. He was 40.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that a small single-engine aircraft piloted by Halladay was reported down in the Gulf of Mexico earlier Tuesday afternoon.
Halladay recently received his pilot’s license and tweeted photos last month of himself standing next to a new ICON A5 plane, which was the model of aircraft that was recovered Tuesday in the Gulf.
Halladay, a two-time Cy Young award winner, was an eight-time All-Star and went 203-105 with a 3.38 ERA in his 16-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies.
During the 2010 season, he threw a perfect game and a no-hitter that postseason.
The Philadelphia Phillies released a full statement:
“We are numb over the very tragic news about Roy Halladay’s untimely death. 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. It is with the heaviest of hearts that we pass along our condolences to Brandy, Ryan and Braden.”
Halladay lived with his wife and two children in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
