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Phillies adding Roy Halladay to Wall of Fame

The Phillies will induct Roy Halladay onto their Wall of Fame this summer, making the late pitcher just the fourth person in franchise history to be honored without a fan vote.

Roy Halladay and Carlos Ruiz celebrating the playoff no-hitter in 2010.
Roy Halladay and Carlos Ruiz celebrating the playoff no-hitter in 2010.Read moreRON CORTES / Staff File Photo

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies will induct Roy Halladay onto their Wall of Fame this summer, making the late pitcher just the fourth person in franchise history to be honored without a fan vote.

Halladay joins Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and Charlie Manuel as the Phillies who made the Wall without a vote. The ceremony will take place Aug. 4, as part of the team's annual Alumni Weekend. The Phillies also will honor Pat Gillick, making the general manager of the 2008 World Series team the first executive represented on the Wall of Fame.

Halladay, who died in November when he crashed his plane into the Gulf of Mexico, joined the Phillies in a trade from Toronto before the 2010 season. He marked his first year by throwing a perfect game in the regular season, a postseason no-hitter, and winning the National League Cy Young Award.

The Phillies also will fly a flag with Halladay's No. 34 above Citizens Bank Park during the entire season.

"Braden, Ryan and I are so honored to have Roy remembered in this way," Roy's widow, Brandy Halladay, said, referring to their children. "He will be in great company with other Phillies legends who are on the Wall of Fame. The decision made by the Phillies to induct Roy without a fan vote makes it even more meaningful. I look forward to fans and the community coming out to celebrate this special occasion with us."

Halladay's first two seasons with the Phillies were phenomenal, as he made two All-Star games and pitched 17 complete games. The right-hander went 40-16 with a 2.40 ERA over those two seasons and walked just 1.2 batters per nine innings. He never seemed to regain his form after losing Game 5 of the 2011 Divisional Series despite allowing just one run in eight innings. Halladay retired after the 2013 season and spent last year working with Phillies minor-leaguers on the mental side of the game, even giving a presentation in Clearwater the day before he died.

'Inclusive' Phillies

The Phillies had Alex Nakahara, a senior quantitative analyst in their research and development department, in uniform and in the dugout on Tuesday.

The uniform and the dugout are usually reserved for players, coaches, and instructors. This was different.

"It's being inclusive," manager Gabe Kapler said. "It's something we've talked about a lot, bringing the front office and the field staff together. Bringing our R&D department, our analytics department together so that they can experience what we're going through. They understand how we're making decisions. Or listening to conversations on the bench. Maybe getting more inspired by those conversations."

Nakahara has a degree in mechanical engineering from Penn and a master's from MIT in aeronautics and astronautics. He joined the Phillies last season after working for five years as a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman. He is part of the think tank the Phillies built over the last few years using bright minds from outside baseball. Kapler said more front-office members could be in uniform this spring.

"It sends a message to a player: Alex is our teammate. Our R&D department are our teammates. Every person in the organization is a shareholder in our organization," Kapler said. "We want to treat them like they're part of our group. Not they're up there and we're down here — which historically has been sort of the divide in baseball."

"I think he learned a lot from listening to [bench coach Rob Thomson, assistant pitching coach Chris Young and major league player information coordinator Sam Fuld] talk about the game situations. Understanding what goes into our decision-making process. What factors we layer on top of the analytics to make good decisions is really important, right? Very similar to how cool it would be if we went up to their office and listened to them talk through how they come up with information."

The game
Jerad Eickhoff made his first Grapefruit League start and Rhys Hoskins and Roman Quinn each homered as the Phils fell to Detroit, 11-6. Eickhoff (two earned runs, three hits, three strikeouts) was limited to 1 1/3 innings because of a pitch count. The Phillies have been impressed this spring by Quinn, who uses his strong legs to produce surprising power from his 5-foot-10 frame. Edubray Ramos impressed by striking out three of the five batters he faced. His fastball sat around 94 mph and he had a strong change-up. … Vince Velasquez will start Wednesday in Dunedin against Toronto.