5 Reasons Why Roy Halladay Is MLB's Most Intriguing Man Entering Spring Training

If there is one player in Major League Baseball you could choose to pick their brains over a meal, who would it be?

My choice: Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay.

Why?

Here is a player who has dominated his entire professional baseball career, and at a 188-92, record he may be the one of the last pitchers to reach the 300 wins mark in modern day baseball.

In addition, his dominance in both the American League and National League is admirable. He's shown the ability to adjust through diversity of the leagues and achieve every major accomplishment possible.

Off the field, he has never encountered any problems or situation to land himself in a negative spotlight. If anything, he has only done great things outside the lines that would make anyone on this earth love him. 

Here is a breakdown of why Roy Halladay is the most intriguing man in baseball right now.

5. No-Hitter on a National Stage

On Oct. 6, 2010, Halladay threw a no-hitter in the opening game of the National League Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

This feat marked only the second time in baseball history a pitcher had no-hit an opponent during the postseason. The other was New York Yankees legend Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series, when he tossed a perfect game.

During the game, he only allowed one base runner by walking outfielder Jay Bruce in the fifth inning with two outs.

Talk about rising to the occasion and the ultimate clutch performance.

The Phillies would go on to lose in the National League Championship Series in six games to the San Francisco Giants, but the no-hitter achievement was voted by fans as the "This Year in Baseball Awards" Postseason Moment of the Year.

4. Doc Halladay Rides in Style

What better way to arrive to spring training than in a classic hot rod?

Doc Halladay pulled up to the Phillies' spring training complex in Clearwater, Fla. in a shiny black 1932 Ford over the weekend as pitchers and catchers reported to camp. 

While most athletes have a infatuation for fast exotic cars, like Barry Bonds' F430 Ferrari, or tricked-out trucks, like Tiger Woods' old Cadillac Escalade, Halladay's second love is apparently in restoring muscle cars and cruising around in other throwback vehicles like this one.

Characteristics like these definitely set him apart from the usual glitz and glamor professional athletes posses off the field, but makes him all the most intriguing.

3. Perfection

On May 29, 2010, Halladay tossed Major League Baseball's 20th perfect game by striking out 11 batters in a match up against the Florida Marlins.

The gem came in the same month as Dallas Braden of the Oakland A's threw his perfect game, but Braden didn't follow his up with the class act that Halladay did.

The righthander commemorated his perfect game by purchasing nearly 60 Swiss-made Baume and Mercier watches to give as gifts to everyone in the clubhouse, including the batboy and public relations officials. In the brown boxes, the watches came in, on the front read "We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay."

His performance that season made him the seventh pitcher in baseball to throw a perfect game and no-hitter in their career, along with Cy Young, Addie Joss, Jim Bunning, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson and Mark Buerhrle. That is quite the company.

This is the kind of guy you want on your team.

2. He Once Saved a Boy in Brazil

Halladay is just as brave off the mound as he is on it.

A few months ago, the Phillies ace was on a fishing trip in Brazil with fellow pitchers Chris Carpenter and B.J. Ryan. They were exploring the Amazon with professional sport fisherman and outdoors man Skeet Reese when they saved a child on a nearby tree who was being attached by a giant anaconda.

The child, who was fishing for tropical fish to sell, reportedly got bitten by the snake before it wrapped around his 14-foot canoe's motor. During that time, Halladay and Reese helped the child gather his belongings from the canoe, then flipped it over before taking him back home.

I'm not too sure how the Phillies front office felt about this, but you have to admire the courage of this type of act.

Once again, this is the kind of guy you want on your team.

1. Hall of Fame Career

Let's take a look at Doc's resume.

At 34 years old, Halladay is 188-92 with a 3.23 earned run average with 1,934 strikeouts.

According to Tom Tango, one of baseball's most respected researchers recent studies in sabermetrics, the odds he reaches 300 wins is about 1 in 5. He has won 20 or more games three times, most recently in 2010.

He is a total eight-time All-Star between his time in the American League and National League.

He has won the Cy Young Award twice over a seven-year span, once with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2003 and the other with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010.

He has pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter.

The Denver, Colo. native went from dominating with little pressure in Toronto to dominating before sports' most brutal fanbase in America, Philadelphia. Not to mention, he has lived up to first-round draft pick pressure after being selected 17th overall in the 1995 MLB draft.

A player with these on-the-field accomplishments and off-field adventures makes him the most intriguing man in Major League Baseball entering this year's spring training.

Who else has these kind of "Superman"-like qualities?