It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since Roy Halladay died in that plane crash. Few deaths have affected me as much. Talking about another friend who died a few years ago, a friend said, ‘Time flies when you are dead.’ It does.

We know more about what Halladay went through after his retirement. The documentary Imperfect was hard to watch. I wanted to keep the feeling that he was enjoying retirement. Todd Zolecki’s book Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay underlined his pain. If you haven’t read the book, I recommend it.

Roy pushed himself to be the very best. There are stories of him working out at 5 a.m. and of him being on holiday and still getting up at 5 to get a workout. His work ethic is admirable, but maybe pushing your body to the very edge is hard in the long term.

I wonder if athletes’ push to get as strong and fit as possible causes their bodies to break down young. Eating, drinking, and being overweight aren’t good, but it might be best if ballplayers need to work out to the edge of what they can do. In my lifetime, baseball players have gone from “I ain’t no athlete, I’m a baseball player” to being muscular enough to be photographed for the cover of bodybuilding magazines. But, unfortunately, maybe some have taken it a half step too far.

Doc seemed to have only baseball in his life. It might have been healthier for him to have had other interests and maybe not push himself quite so hard to be perfect. But then, he wouldn’t have been the player we loved. If we could go back and tell him, “We would be happy with 95% of perfect.” Yeah, I know. He wouldn’t have changed a thing.

But I digress….

Halladay was the best part of those Blue Jays teams. He was the guy whose start I wanted to watch. I wanted to see every pitch.

He was intense and a perfectionist. He wanted to win every game. Of course, all players want to win every game, but Doc wanted to win every game. I can’t imagine he always enjoyed playing for Jays’ teams that needed him to be nearly perfect to get the win.

I’m glad he is in the Hall of Fame, and I’m pleased he is on the Level of Excellence. I wish he had been around to see it. But, the best part, if there was the best part of the days and weeks after his passing, was hearing his teammates talk about him. Hearing the stories of his fun side. Sadly, someone has to die before getting to hear all those stories. A friend of my wife, who had terminal cancer, had her ‘funeral’ before she passed so that she could hear her friends’ love. It was an excellent idea.

I hope his wife and boys have found peace and remember the good times.