A perfect gift
One by one, the Phillies players walked up to Roy Halladay and shook his hand. Halladay’s smile was the widest it has been since he joined the team.
A perfect gift
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
One by one, the Phillies players walked up to Roy Halladay and shook his hand. Halladay’s smile was the widest it has been since he joined the team.
The righthander purchased around 60 Baume & Mercier watches to commemorate his perfect game May 29. He gave out the watches as gifts to everyone in the clubhouse — all of the players who were on the active roster then, the entire coaching staff, all clubhouse personnel (including bat boy Rob DiClementi), training and video staff as well as public relations officials.
The watches were enclosed in brown boxes with an inscription on the front: “We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay.”
“Unbelievable,” Raul Ibanez said as he opened his. “Wow.”
It’s not unusual for a pitcher to reward his teammates for a milestone like a perfect game. Halladay went beyond that.
Each watch was engraved on the back with the date of the game and the linescore. Every watch was personalized, the person’s name engraved on the back of their watch.
“That’s awesome,” Ryan Howard said, as he inspected the thick instruction manual that came with every watch.
Howard joked that if he reaches 500 home runs, he’ll send a watch to every pitcher that served up a long ball.
“Hey, we pitchers can be very generous people,” reliever Chad Durbin said from across the room.
A little more than an hour before first pitch, the players sat at their lockers, finagling with the watches. Halladay, from the corner of the room, watched and smiled.
Brad Lidge shook his head in disbelief. He wasn’t even in Miami the night Halladay threw the perfect game. Instead, he was pitching in a rehab game 100 miles north in Port St. Luice, Fla. He didn’t mind the gift.
Said Lidge: “We have to do it again now, right?”
I would rather have one of those watches than my house. That is true style my man - you are one easy player to root for. Not that I think they wouldn't do it anyway, but you think this will have people running through walls for him in the playoffs or what??— Twocents- Very nice and classy!! Glad he's here!!— taxmeg
- Holy smokes, what a class act! Doc will drive this team to the playoffs and the World Series in October.— jerseyruss
- Great gesture Roy. Just another way a true ace acts. Roy is not that common a name - But, 2 of our 3 best pitchers are named Roy... Where have you gone Sil Compusano?— ShadyT
- Lonewolf plans to order alarm clocks for all posters on this site.— mick314
Hard to dislike this team.— road515
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But we shoulda kept Cwiff Wee! WAAAAAAHHHH!- Cliff Lee never would have done that!!!— MFinSC
- How class is Roy Halladay? I hope they return the favor by winning another World Series.— stormrider
- Already loved the guy for his work ethic. He's who I talk about when I tell my son it takes talent and dedication to be great. It's good to know that he's a great guy, too.— V is for Viking
- Pure class.— downtheshore
- Class.— PhillySubsMac
- This story says it for itself, and I'm sure if you asked Doc about him giving the watches to the boys, he'd reply that he would have preferred the media not find out, that it wasn't for press, but for appreciation and love. Great stuff!— Bleue
- The anti-LeBron— ant8817
- Classy move from a classy guy.— kmon
- Good for Roy. I've seen that smile he had on people of a much lower pay grade and it is still a joy to behold. I remember thinking when the Marlins presented the pithing rubber to Halladay on his next visit to FL that the appropriate gift for Chooch would be Home Plate, because none of it would have happened w/out him as well.— soulsun
What a great great guy to have on your hometown team. We're all living in The Golden Age of Phillies Baseball. I am Appreciative.— Nutron- Nice story- glad he is a Phillie.— NJSeashell
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- It says right in the column: all players on the active roster that game.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- Pure class.— dri_as_a_bone
- One more reason to like the guy even more. It will be fun watching him in October.— phillyart
- I love this team ... and I love this team's Ace!
i'm guessing guys that weren't even on the team at that point too? brown? oswalt? that's pretty huge to include every person. though i think a car would have been cheaper.— Evilvet- All class
Without Castro playing third base that night there would have been no perfect game. Hope he got his watch too. Classy move by Doc. Hopefully he can do this a couple more times before his Hall of Fame career is over.- He is one cool dude...— Grazman
- Class Act all the way....nice goin Roy!— Elderlee
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"if you wanna have a good time, then you need a good watch...now that's what I call class."— bboybeballin- Classy man all the way around.— Mark1npt
