Roy Halladay enjoying retirement, in no rush to get back into baseball

TORONTO — Roy Halladay had a reputation for being a focused, fierce competitor. For someone with that kind of reputation, he’s handling retirement remarkably well.

The former Blue Jays All-Star pitcher and Cy Young winner was honoured before the team’s home opener on Friday night and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Halladay announced his retirement this offseason after 16 major-league seasons.

“It’s pretty cool to be back [in Toronto],” Halladay said during pre-game batting practice. “It doesn’t seem like that long ago, it feels like I was just here. I’m enjoying retirement but this pretty cool to be able to come back here.

“I have no regrets, no disappointments; [retirement] was the right choice for me. . . I had a lot of fun when I played. I left everything out there that I could. It makes it that much easier to enjoy things now. I enjoy being here and talking to guys. It’s a sport that I love, it’s a passion of mine. I want to try to give back to it. I really enjoy being around the game.”

Despite that love of the game Halladay is in no rush to get involved again, though he does see it in his future. He’s earned the time off. Over his career Halladay was a workhorse. He won 203 games and in an era when teams don’t hesitate to use their bullpens, he lead the league in complete games four times and pitched more than 200 innings in eight different seasons.

“I definitely want to get back in the game. I’m enjoying my time and figuring out where I can hopefully help the most,” Halladay said. “I spent a little time in spring training with the Phillies, and I’ve been talking to [Blue Jays general manager] Alex [Anthopoulos], and hopefully I can do some things this year. I’m trying to focus on family this first year or two then I’ll start considering a way to get back in. I don’t know if it’s going to be in uniform or not.”

As a Blue Jay, Halladay won the Cy Young in 2003 and was a six-time All-Star. He’s second the club’s all-time wins list with 148. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 2009 season and won Cy Young in his first season there, and pitched a no-hitter in the playoffs. He signed a one-day contract with the Blue Jays in December so he could retire as a member of the team that brought him up.

“My roots are here, my roots are with the Blue Jays,” Halladay said. “I really feel like this was the whole dinner, the whole meal and Philly was the chocolate cake at the end. This really was the major part of my baseball career. I really feel like this is where I belong. Philadelphia was a nice little treat, I really enjoyed being there but this is definitely where I feel like my roots are.”

And one of the highlights of the Jays home opener happened when the game was over and all the fans went home.