Phillies Great Roy Halladay Elected Into Hall Of Fame

Roy Halladay, the late former Phillie and the most dominant pitcher of his generation, was elected into the baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot Tuesday.

The stoic righty, who set Philadelphia and the baseball world on fire when he threw a no hitter in the 2010 postseason, died in a plane crash at age 40 in 2017.

"Doc" was joined on the historic ballot by Mariano Rivera, the longtime Yankees closer, who became the first player in the Hall's 83-year history to be elected unanimously. Slugger Edgar Martinez and pitcher Mike Mussina, both stars of the 1990s, rounded out the 2019 class.

In addition to the postseason no hitter, Halladay earned Cy Young awards as the league's best pitcher in 2003 and again in 2010, and became the 20th pitcher in baseball history to throw a perfect game in 2010. He was an 8-time All Star, and amassed 203 wins and 2,117 strikeouts in his career.

Halladay was honored with 84 percent of the 425 ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Players must earn at least 75 percent of all votes in order to be inducted.

During his tenure in Philadelphia from 2010 until his early retirement in 2013, he led a Phillies rotation that was among the greatest in the modern era. "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," spearheaded by Halladay, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt, made the Phillies the most dominant team in baseball in 2011, which was the fifth straight year the Phillies won the National League East and made a postseason appearance.

Halladay, Lee, and Hamels finished second, third, and fifth, respectively in NL Cy Young voting that year.

Though Halladay didn't have the longetivity in Philadelphia that now legendary figures like Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins had, he made up for it with the utter supremacy of a sinking fastball and unparalleled accuracy. "One of the best I ever faced," 14-time All Star and three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez said Tuesday.

"He’s such an inspiration to anyone who’s had to go all the way back to the beginning to reinvent themselves - his work ethic & dedication were legendary," said Nationals closer Sean Doolittle.

"He defined what it meant to be the first to show up and the last to leave," Brad Lidge said on MLB Radio. "His work ethic was only topped by how nasty his pitches were."

Players tainted by allegations of steroid cheating — Barry Bonds (59.1 percent), Roger Clemens (59.5 percent), and Sammy Sosa (8.5 percent) — were not close to inductions.

Halladay and the other three members of the 2019 class will be honored during an induction ceremony on the weekend of July 19-21 in Cooperstown, New York.

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