Remembering: Roy Halladay

Well, your Toronto Blue Jays 2010 season has come to a close. Cito's tenure as manager is officially over. We here at 1BlueJaysWay look forward to the upcoming playoffs, offseason and to the beginning of the 2011 campaign.

As Roy Halladay and his Phillies are celebrating the clinching of the NL East, and preparing for his playoffs debut vs the Reds, what better time to take a moment and remember the greatest pitcher to don the Blue Jays logo.

Let's go back to a fall road trip I took in September of 2007, to Boston.

In March of 2007, I was browsing the internet and various MLB team sites scouting out a potential road trip to take in a Blue Jays game in foreign territory. I landed at redsox.com and stumbled upon two seats in the grandstand section behind home plate. The seats were restricted view, but it was Fenway Park, in September. Those who have had the pleasure to visit Fenway park know, that the restricted view seats are part of the mystique that is "America's Most Beloved Ballpark". I clicked buy and we were off to Boston, eventually.

Fast forward to September 5th. The 2007 Blue Jays were winding down their season, firmly entrenched in third place. The Red Sox were on their way to winning the World Series against Colorado. Having arrived in Boston earlier in the week we were able to take in the first two games of the series, one of which included a tough CG loss by Roy Halladay.

Our tickets were for the series finale. On the hill the pitching matchup was Marcum vs. Schilling.

The lineups were as follows:

Wells CF Lugo SS

Stairs LF Ellsbury LF

Rios RF Ortiz DH

Thomas DH Lowell 3B

Glaus 3B Drew RF

Overbay 1B Youkillis 1B

Hill 2B Varitek C

Zaun C Crisp CF

McDonald SS Cora 2B

Back to the Fenway Park experience, we decided to head down to the Fens' early to catch the last tour of the park before the gates opened. Tour tickets in hand, we went to the Red Sox team store, across Yawkey Way from the park. Two Jays fans in a sea of Red Sox paraphenalia ranging from jackets, hats, jerseys and Yankees toilet paper, something caught my eye through the windows of the store. It was a man strolling down Yawkey way wearing a Blue Jays t-shirt. That in itself was pretty cool, being that we were in the capital of Red Sox nation but upon closer observation I noticed it was a familiar looking Blue Jays player, check that, THE Blue Jays player, Doc' himself, Mr. Roy Halladay. Without causing much stir or having much regard about missing the Fenway tour, I grabbed Mrs. LastRow500's arm and quietly made for the exit. We crossed Yawkey way caught up with Roy, who graciously stopped to chat with this odd man who had made the 9 hour trek to see his beloved Blue Jays play, despite being 14 games out of a playoff position.

We chatted briefly, he thanked us for making the trip, shook my hand, and stood patiently for a photo:

I just wanna take the opportunity to say "Good Luck Roy" on your World Series hunt.

And thanks again for the memories.

As for the game? Who cares? The Jays won, Glaus and Wells hit homers, I sat beside Jesse Litsch's brother, got a ball from Adam Lind and met Jerry Howarth.