A perfect gift
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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?”
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- Classy move from a classy guy.— kmon
- The anti-LeBron— ant8817
- 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
- Class.— PhillySubsMac
- Pure class.— downtheshore
- 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
- How class is Roy Halladay? I hope they return the favor by winning another World Series.— stormrider
- Cliff Lee never would have done that!!!— MFinSC
But we shoulda kept Cwiff Wee! WAAAAAAHHHH!
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Hard to dislike this team.— road515
