Toronto Blue Jays: Roy Halladay’s Hall of Fame chances looking good

It is increasingly likely that former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay will be enshrined in Cooperstown later on this year.

When the late, great Roy Halladay retired as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in Dec. 2013, it was a case of when he would make the Hall of Fame, rather than if. More specifically, would he make it into Cooperstown at the first time of asking?

Well, we’re going to find out very soon, with the Hall of Fame Class for 2019 set to be announced on Jan. 22. As such, we thought we’d check in on Halladay’s chances of being enshrined in July.

When we last looked at how the two-time Cy Young winner was doing, he had received 87.5 percent of the shared ballots. However, while this was above the 75 percent needed to be voted in, it was representative of just 24 votes.

To put this into context, there were still an estimated 412 ballots to be cast. And Halladay still needed 74.2 percent of the remaining votes, to make it into Cooperstown at the first time of asking.

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As of Thursday, just five days before this year’s Hall of Fame class is announced, the eight-time All-Star is in a much stronger position. The update comes courtesy of Ryan Thibodaux and his comprehensive spreadsheet, detailing how the voting has gone so far.

At the time of posting, 179 public and five anonymous ballots have been revealed, equating to 44.7 percent of all votes which will be cast. And of these 184 ballots, Halladay has received the second-highest number of Hall of Fame votes, at 94.0 percent.

(Unsurprisingly, New York Yankees former closer Mariano Rivera is the one who is ahead of “Doc”, at 100 percent. It is also worth noting that Seattle Mariners former DH Edgar Martinez — in his last year of eligibility — is third, at 90.8 percent.)

Of course, with another 228 ballots still to be made public, there’s a long way to go. However, of those, the 1995 17th overall draft pick now only needs 59.6 percent of the remaining votes.

To put things into more perspective in respect of how strong Halladay’s position is, when the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot was first released, it included 22 players. Of those 22, 14 have now been eliminated.

The other five players still in contention are Mike Mussina (82.1), Curt Schilling (73.9), Roger Clemens (73.9), Barry Bonds (73.4) and Larry Walker (66.8). With 55.3 percent of the ballots still to be shared, a lot of uncertainty remains.

Another factor to consider in how tough it is to get into Cooperstown, is how many people usually get voted in every year. Consider that just four players were enshrined in 2018 and this was tied for the largest Hall of Fame class since its inception in 1936.

Even taking this all into account, it still seems like a good bet that Halladay will be one of the names announced on Jan. 22. And while there is no urgency with nine more chances remaining, it would certainly be special for his family, the Blue Jays and their fans, if he made it to Cooperstown at the first time of asking.

Assuming things do go to plan — and it’s tough to be certain of anything in this world — Halladay’s absence in July for the enshrinement ceremony will be felt tremendously by everyone. However, you can bet on his family and all those concerned, to do their best to celebrate the occasion on his behalf.

How confident are you that Halladay will make the Hall of Fame at the first time of asking?  Regardless, what do you remember most from his time with the Toronto Blue Jays? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.