Phillies

Roy Halladay, while wearing a Phillies jersey, pitched tonight

By
Tim Kelly
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Tim Kelly Sports Editor

All posts by Tim Kelly
Sports Editor

Published31 Jul 2017

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Roy halladay

In four seasons with the Phillies, Roy Halladay became a fan-favorite. (Kevin Durso/SportsTalkPhilly)

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor Roy Halladay, while wearing a Phillies jersey, pitched tonight

You weren't seeing things earlier tonight – that was a slightly heavier Roy Halladay pitching on ESPN 2 in the National Baseball Congress World Series: 

In four innings pitching for the Kansas City Stars, a team that is made up of former MLB players, Halladay allowed just one hit and gave up no runs. His velocity, as you would expect for someone that hasn't pitched in the MLB since 2013, wasn't at an MLB level. He clearly isn't in the world-class shape that he was when pitched. That perhaps makes the fact that he allowed just one hit even more impressive. 

After the game, Halladay joked that this would silence any of his friends that ask him about making an MLB comeback. 

Halladay, who turned 40 earlier this summer, spent four seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Phillies. In four seasons with the team, Halladay threw a perfect game, a playoff no-hitter, won a Cy Young Award and cemented his legacy as his era's best pitcher. After laying low for a few years, Halladay worked as a guest instructor during Spring Training for the Phillies in 2017.

The Stars won 10-1 this evening over the Everett Merchants, which helped them to move to 2-0 in Pool A of Championship Week of the NBC World Series. 

So what is the NBC World Series? According to the website for the National Baseball Congress website, the tournament takes place each year in Wichita, Kansas, and it is used to both popularize the NBC itself and to give the area a top tournament that features some of the top college baseball players that America has to offer. 2017, according to this evening's broadcast, is the 83rd edition of the tournament. 

As this image shows, the Stars' roster is loaded with former MLB stars, including his Phillies' teamate Roy Oswalt: 

The roster of the Stars includes two other former Phillies: pitcher Nate Robertson and outfielder David Dellucci. The roster also includes Chipper Jones, Dan Uggla, Ben Sheets and Joe Nathan, among others.