The baseball world was rocked Tuesday afternoon after learning of the sudden passing of former pitcher Roy Halladay following a small-plane accident in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Florida coast.
Halladay, a Denver native, pitched at Arvada West High School and eventually went on to win two Cy Young awards. He appeared in eight All-Star games and pitched one of only two no-hitters in postseason history. Halladay was elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Tracy Ringolsby, longtime columnist covering the MLB and the Colorado Rockies, joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 Tuesday to reflect on Halladay’s life, and he discussed not only the impact Halladay made on the field, but off it as well.
“He was very loyal and he never forgot people,” said Ringolsby. “He wasn’t looking for attention; he didn’t crave it. He was much more concerned about a lot of the charities he got himself involved in.”
Halladay was renowned for being as locked-in as an athlete can be when he was on the mound, and in the clubhouse, and Ringolsby touched on that in the interview.
“He was totally focused,” Ringolsby said. “Before games, when a lot of guys are in the clubhouse, just kind of hanging around, he had a very, very strong routine and program that he was committed to; that he felt was very important to maintain himself. He didn’t sit around all the time.”
Even though his focus was unique, Halladay never shied away from being a good teammate, Ringolsby explained. “He also was a guy that really pushed him teammates to be better, not in a negative-type way, but just in a way of wanting guys to not lose sight of what they needed to do or what they could do.”
Sorry – this audio content is no longer available., including what he had to say about Halladay’s chances of being a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the impact Halladay made on his teammates, and more.
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