Roy Halladay No-Hitter: Looking at Doc's Checklist for the Hall of Fame
Roy Halladay became the second pitcher in MLB postseason history to throw a no-hitter after he blanked the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 Wednesday night.
The performance serves as an exclamation mark on a great season with the Philadelphia Phillies, and an even greater career.
Halladay, 33, debuted as a 21-year old fireballer for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998. However, he doesn't rely on his velocity to beat hitters anymore, so he could have several more stellar seasons left in him.
It's performances like the one last night that elevates players from greatness to immortality. So the question beckons—is Halladay a Hall-of-Famer?
The Numbers
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The first thing voters look at is a candidate's numbers, and Halladay has plenty of them.
Through 13 major league seasons, he has been as dominant as any pitcher in the game.
169-86 career record. 3.32 ERA. 1.181 WHIP. 1,714 strikeouts in nearly 2,300 innings. 58 complete games and 19 shutouts. Less than two walks per nine innings. Nearly seven strikeouts per nine innings.
His single season average is a 17-9 record with a 3.32 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 235 innings. That's his average, as in he's expected to reach at least those numbers each year. That would be a career year for almost any pitcher in baseball.
If he maintains that level of production over the next four to five years, Halladay would be on pace to hit some serious milestones, including 250 wins and 2,500 strikeouts (only 20 players on that list and most of them are already in the Hall of Fame). In the modern pitch count era, those kinds of figures may never be seen again.
Numbers? Check.
The Awards
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What's a Hall-of-Famer without some hardware on his mantle?
Well, Halladay has that too.
He's been named to seven All-Star teams, won a Cy Young (2003), and finished in the top five in Cy Young voting four additional times. He's also been nominated multiple times for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with underprivileged children.
In 2009, he was ranked seventh on Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball.
He's the favorite to win the 2010 NL Cy Young and will probably get a few votes for MVP while he's at it. Oh, and he's the active career leader in WAR for pitcher (54.3) and career winning percentage (.663). Sounds like Halladay's mantle is going to be plenty full.
Awards? Check.
The Competition
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Election into the Hall of Fame is, of course, a competitive process. They don't just let you in if you're good. You have to be as good as or better than everyone you've played with.
Halladay is an interesting case because he's the bridge between two distinctly different sets of elite pitchers.
In the 1990's and into the 21st century, baseball was dominated by the likes of Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez.
Today's best pitchers are all young hot shots, chief among them Felix Hernandez (24), Tim Lincecum (26), Ubaldo Jiminez (26), Josh Johnson (26), David Price (25), and Jon Lester (26).
So where does Halladay, at 33 years old, fit in?
He can't compete with the inflated win and inning totals of the first group. But he also can't compete with the microscopic ERA's of the second group.
A good comparison may be C.C. Sabathia, who at 29 years old has pitched almost as long as Halladay (10 seasons vs. 13) and is considered by many to be one of the best pitchers in the game. Sabathia's single season averages are a 17-9 record with a 3.57 ERA and 189 strikeouts in 225 innings. That's virtually identical to Halladay (17-9, 3.32, 175 K, 235 IP).
So if the man signed to the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history is worthy of the Hall of Fame, Halladay undoubtedly belongs in the same company.
Beating up on your contemporaries? Check.
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The Moments
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Numbers and awards get baseball players into the record books. But to get into the Hall of Fame a player needs something extra, something special that fans remember them by.
Halladay spent nearly his entire career pitching for a Blue Jays team that had no realistic chance of competing with the titans in Boston and New York. He never once pitched in the postseason and tended to be forgotten among baseball's elite until an opposing team actually faced him.
This, by the way, is the same thing that happened to guys like Tim Raines, Jim Rice, and Andre Dawson (though Rice and Dawson were eventually elected). All of these players had outstanding numbers which alone should've guaranteed them a spot in the Hall of Fame. But voters tend to overlook you if you spend your entire career on a small-market team that is almost never competitive, i.e. Roy Halladay.
But to Halladay's good fortune he finally got a chance to play for a real contender when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies last offseason.
Then on May 29, Halladay forever made his mark on the game by pitching the 20th perfect game in baseball history. This alone would've likely been enough to get elected. But just to be sure, Halladay then did something only one other pitcher has ever done.
On October 6 in his first career postseason appearance, Halladay pitched the second no-hitter in playoff history (Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 was the first). Not a bad way to cement your legacy as one of the game's undeniable greats.
A career-defining moment? Check. Double check.
Roy Halladay, welcome to the Hall of Fame.
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