Major League pitcher Roy Halladay, an avid angler and friend of B.A.S.S. who formed a close personal relationship with Elite pro Skeet Reese, died Tuesday when the plane he was flying crashed in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast. He was 40.
Halladay, a two-time Cy Young winner who played 16 years in Toronto and Philadelphia, had taken a number of fishing trips together with Reese, the first a gift from the Phillies. (Reese was believed to be in Mexico and could not be reached). Halladay pitched the majors’ 20th perfect game in 2010 – he threw a no-hitter that year in the postseason – and the team contacted Reese to take the avid angler out after the season.
“I don’t know how they got him, but Skeet was the reigning Toyota Angler of the Year, and after that they became really good buddies,” said Bassmaster emcee Dave Mercer, who crossed paths with Halladay a number of times, starting in Canada. “I kind of knew Doc from Toronto, where he pitched most of his career. He was the highlight of the Blue Jays for a lot of dark, dark years. He was the only reason to watch.”
Mercer, host of the popular Canadian show Facts of Fishing, said Halladay was a regular on the fishing scene. They actually first met at a Bass Pro Shops where both were doing promotions side by side and signing autographs for fans.
“It’s just so sad to hear about the passing of this amazing man. He was a friend to anyone lucky enough to meet him,” Mercer said. “Just a great guy. Honestly, he was just that really unassuming. If not for the fact that he was 6-foot-6, you wouldn’t know he was a professional athlete.”
Mercer mentioned the story of the 2014 Bassmaster Elite event in Philadelphia on the Delaware River. Halladay, who had retired in 2013, accompanied Reese through the bag line each day, and Mercer kept trying to get him to come out for the crowd.
“I gave him trouble for not coming out on stage,” Mercer said. “It took a bunch of texts between Skeet and me trash talking him before he finally came out on the final day.”
Reese and Halladay even experienced one of the crazier occurrences written about on Bassmaster.com. In 2011, on a peacock bass fishing trip to the Amazon in Brazil with several other MLB players, they helped a local angler who had been attacked by an anaconda and left stranded naked on a log. That memory made ESPN’s website and solidified a friendship.
“They were tight. They went to Brazil together,” Mercer said. “When we were in Philly, Skeet stayed at Doc’s house.”
Mercer did have another story that shows the kind of man Halladay was. Mercer was throwing out the first pitch at a Blue Jays game, and Halladay was coming off an injury and secretly holding a rehab session hidden in the ballpark.
“He was pitching undercover, and we had this ball boy running back and forth between us sending messages,” Mercer said. “It was all fishing related. Doc wants to know what to do in these conditions. I’d answer. It went back and forth.
“I finally said I’m not answering any more until he comes out and sees me. The ball boy came back and said Doc was trapped but wishes he could visit.”
Mercer stayed in contact with Halladay, noting he mostly enjoyed activities with his children and his new love, flying.
“In all honestly, this doesn’t seem real – it doesn’t make any sense,” Mercer said. “The only thread of hope you have is that he died doing something he loved.”
Halladay, an eight-time All-Star who went 203-105 with a 3.38 ERA in 16 seasons, appeared on the cover of Bassmaster magazine in 2011 for a story titled “Pitch Perfect.”
The Pasco County Sheriff’s department held a news conference detailing that Halladay’s single-engine plane, an ICON A5, crashed around noon near Holiday, Fla. A marine unit found the plane and Halladay’s body, but it’s unknown if anyone else was aboard.
The Phillies sent out a 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.”
