In his first year of eligibility Roy Halladay was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame last week. Sadly Roy will not be able to attend in person as he passed away in a plane crash in November of 2017. Halladay pitched 16 seasons in the Major Leagues and had a stretch of absolute dominance over that span.

His wife Brandy released this statement following the announcement that his cap would have no team logo despite 12 years with Toronto and just 4 (though more dominant) years with the Phillies:

“Roy was incredibly proud of his accomplishments with both the Blue Jays and the Phillies. We spent many great years in Toronto, where he established his career and became a Cy Young-winning pitcher. In Philadelphia, he reached the Postseason, threw two no-hitters and won a second Cy Young Award. As a family, and with the blessing of the Hall of Fame, we feel confident that Roy would have come to the same conclusion, had he known it to be an option. Both franchises, and their fans, meant so much to him.”

Halladay is another pitcher elected without 300 wins but did have a dominance stretch that was strong – especially being in the steroid era and largely in the American League East like fellow inductee Mike Mussina.

On some traditional stats Halladay doesn’t rank especially well. His 3.38 ERA is the 14th highest (led by last year’s Today’s Game Committee inductee Jack Morris), his 203 wins are 59th while Pedro Martinez is 51st at 219. While Martinez lost just 100 games, Halladay lost just 105 games.

Yet while there are different criteria for HOF induction – one of those is being dominant for a stretch of time. Halladay fits that bill. From 2001-11, he was a feared pitcher. He pitched two no-hitters(one being a perfect game), including only the second no-hitter in playoff hitter with a no hitter against the Reds in Game 1 of the Division Series. He had 2,117 strikeouts which ranks 36th of pitchers in the Hall of Fame. During that span, he was 4th in total innings pitched and his 64 complete games during that span were 30 more than any other pitcher. Last year a record low 42 complete games were thrown in all of Major League Baseball.

He was a vintage ace, and he deserves merit into the Hall of Fame. His wife Brandy had this to say upon learning of his induction:

Being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is every boy’s dream. To stand on that stage in Cooperstown and deliver your acceptance speech in front of baseball’s most enthusiastic fans is something that every baseball player aspires to achieve, and Roy was no exception. But that was not Roy’s goal. It was not his goal to have those three letters after his signature. His goal was to be successful every single day of his 16-year career.  Tonight’s announcement is the end result of that effort.

The baseball world was saddened to learn of his passing 16 months ago, and now it will certainly be slightly bittersweet during his induction this summer.