So Long
Roy Halladay gave his body to baseball. When it gave out, with his back and shoulder severely compromised, it seemed to go quickly. In 2011 he was the runner-up for what would have been his third Cy Young Award. Two years later he is done. Halladay, 36, announced his retirement from baseball on Monday.
In what could stand as the epitaph to his career, Halladay said, "I didn't want to give up the ball." He was the most dogged pitcher of his generation and at times the absolute best. There was nothing like him in this age of specialization. Since Jack Morris retired in 1994, only Randy Johnson (74) threw more complete games than Halladay (67).
From age 30 to 34, he became the first pitcher since Warren Spahn a half century ago to lead his league in complete games for five straight years. At the height of his brilliance—which followed a career comeback after being demoted all the way to Class A baseball to relearn how to pitch—Halladay went 170--75 with a 2.97 ERA, a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter in a 10-year window that should punch his ticket to the Hall of Fame. Halladay (203--105 lifetime) will go on the 2018 ballot with Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Todd Helton. "I wanted to be in the game as long as I possibly could," he said. "Maybe there were times I shouldn't have taken the ball, but I wasn't going to tell anybody."
Had he been less driven, Halladay said, he might have squeezed two or three more years out of his body. Had he been less driven, he would not have found his way from 24-year-old Class A reclamation project to likely Hall of Famer.
They Said It
"We were eating pasta. He had elbow pasta; I had shell pasta; and I told him how my shell pasta is better than his elbow pasta. And he was pretty upset about that. He loves elbow pasta, but I disagree. I think shell pasta is better. I don't care. I will stand by that. Shell pasta."
Metta World Peace
Knicks forward, downplaying an alleged locker room dispute with teammate Kenyon Martin
Go Figure
0
Hall of Fame expansion-era committee members who didn't vote for Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre. The three men—the winningest managers of the past 40 years—were elected to Cooperstown on Monday by the 16-man committee.
$1,466,574
Amount Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle paid for a gold medal won by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the highest price ever for a piece of Olympic memorabilia.
56
Years since Rice earned an outright conference football title before the Owls beat Marshall 41--24 in the Conference USA championship game. They last won a league crown in 1957, when they went 5--1 in the Southwestern Conference and finished the season ranked No. 8.
263
Points scored by No. 5 Kentucky and No. 9 Baylor last Saturday, an NCAA record for a women's game. The Wildcats won 133--130 in four overtimes.
90
CONSECUTIVE GAMES IN WHICH SWINGMAN KYLE KORVER OF THE HAWKS HAS MADE A THREE-POINTER, AN NBA RECORD. KORVER BROKE THE MARK SET BY DANA BARROS OF THE 76ERS AND THE CELTICS IN 1994--95 AND '95--96 WITH A FIRST-QUARTER THREE IN A 108--89 WIN OVER THE CAVS.
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DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/AP (PEACE)
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AL TIELEMANS/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (HALLADAY)
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SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (KORVER)
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ROBERT CHAMBLISS/ICON SMI (RICE)
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COURTESY OF SCP AUCTIONS (MEDAL)
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