Book Review — Doc: The Life Of Roy Halladay

Todd Zolecki’s portrait of the Hall Of Famer does an incredible job capturing the two coexisting sides of the late pitcher, The hero…and the HUMAN.

JJ Rangi

--

Philippe Lazaro

The story of Roy Halladay is a sad one, and it was a sad one even before shocking passing away at the age of 40, in November 2017, just four years after he retired from the Philadelphia Phillies.

In “Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay”, Todd Zolecki describes the humility, work ethic, and mental health issues that surrounded the first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The two-time Cy Young award winner was undoubtedly one of the best pitchers on earth from 2001 through 2011. In this respect, it’s only fitting that Zolecki starts the story of Roy Halladay with one of his greatest achievements: a no-hitter in his first postseason game.

The book recounts Halladay in his early life, his amateur career, and eventually his arrival in the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays, where for the first time, Halladay has an Achilles heel.

It was expected that he would help Toronto return to the postseason. The issue Halladay faced was that he was too focused on the results, and since he did not perform well, his confidence diminished. As a result, Halladay was traded to the Phillies before the 2010 season.

The selfless Roy Halladay wanted nothing more than to live up to the endless expectations that everyone held for him. As the reader, one hopes that he regains his strength; after all, even in the face of Kryptonite, Superman still succeeds in saving the day.

The rollercoaster of events in which Halladay goes from his peak to rock bottom in three short years draws the reader in with one burning question: how does Halladay return to greatness?

A lowered arm slot and a book called The Mental ABCs of Pitching by Harvey Dorfman saved Roy Halladay’s career.

Halladay was taught in the book not to focus on the results, but on each pitch in turn. To follow Dorfman’s philosophy, Halladay had to be aggressive in the strike zone and pitch to contact while missing barrels at the same time.

--

--

JJ Rangi

Writer & Pro Wrestler with a world of stories to tell. From Health & Wellbeing to Entertainment & Food and much more