Former star pitcher Halladay dies in plane crash

Roy Halladay, a former major league pitcher, died Tuesday when his private plane crashed off the coast of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. He was 40. Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff Chris Nocco said Halladay’s ICON A5 plane went down around noon. The sheriff’s office marine unit responded and found Halladay’s body and no survivors. Police couldn’t confirm if there were additional passengers on the plane. Halladay, an eight-time All-Star, retired from professional baseball in 2013 after playing 12 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was one of only six pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in both the American and National leagues. As a member of the Phillies, he pitched a perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May 2010 and later that season tossed a no-hitter in the National League Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds, making him only the second pitcher in history to pitch a no-hitter in a playoff game. (Don Larson was the first, pitching a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series.) Halladay was an amateur pilot who often posted about his fascination with small planes on social media. This past spring he served as a volunteer assistant for his son Braden’s baseball team at Calvary Christian High School in Clearwater, Fla. In addition to Braden, Halladay’s wife Brandy and their other son Ryan survive him.