Roy Halladay Did 'Extreme Acrobatics,' Had Amphetamines in System Before Crash

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board released its report on the plane crash that killed Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay in Tampa Bay in 2017, finding that Halladay had large amounts of amphetamines in his system and was performing stunts prior to the accident. 

Per ESPN, "Halladay had amphetamine levels about 10 times therapeutic levels in his blood along with a high level of morphine and an anti-depressant that can impair judgment as he performed high-pitch climbs and steep turns, sometimes within five feet of the water."

The stunts that Halladay was performing put "nearly two-times gravity" on his Icon A5 plane, per ESPN, and on his final maneuver "Halladay entered a steep climb and his speed fell to about 85 miles per hour. The propeller-driven plane went into a nosedive and smashed into the water."

Additionally, a previous report on the accident said Halladay had hit speeds of up to 105 mph while clearing the water below by just 11 feet. The cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma and drowning, though a definitive cause for the accident was not listed in the NTSB report, per ESPN. 

The former pitcher had around 700 hours of flight training at the time of his death, including 51 hours of experience in Icon A5 planes. It is unclear if he had trained in low-altitude flying. 

Halladay was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after going 203-105 in his career with 2,117 strikeouts, a 3.38 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. He was an eight-time All-Star, two-time Cy Young award winner, threw a perfect game during the 2010 regular season and a no-hitter in the 2010 postseason.

He was only the second pitcher in MLB history to throw a postseason no-hitter, joining New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen (1956).