No hat logo for Halladay’s Hall plaque; Mussina uncertain
NEW YORK (AP) — Roy Halladay won’t have a logo on the cap of his Hall of Fame plaque, and Mike Mussina wants some time before giving his opinion to the Hall, which makes the final decision.
Halladay, who died in November 2017, spent 12 of his 16 seasons pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays and four for the Philadelphia Phillies. Mussina was with the Baltimore Orioles for his first 10 seasons and the New York Yankees for his final eight.
Hall spokesman Jon Shestakofsky said in an email Wednesday the decision had been made for Halladay’s plaque to have no logo.
“The Hall provides guidance to inductees as to which logo, if any, may be depicted on an electee’s plaque cap,” he wrote. “While the Hall of Fame has the final say as to which logo, if any, is included, we work with the electee to reach an appropriate conclusion. This family decision was made in concert with the Hall of Fame.”
Manager Tony La Russa and pitchers Greg Maddux and Catfish Hunter are among other inductees with no logo.
“We decided. We talked about it,” Halladay’s wife, Brandy, said after the news conference, flanked by her sons. “There’s no way to decide between the two teams, and I know we’ve spent the majority of our time in Toronto. Toronto gave us that chance, that base at the start, but Philly also gave us a chance to win and the passion that we wanted, and there’s no way to choose and so we decided that he’ll go in with no team.”
During an August 2016 visit to Toronto, Halladay said he would go into the Hall as a member of the Blue Jays.
“So much anger and vitriol in my mentions about the Halladay family’s decision to have his Hall plaque be logo-free,” Blue Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner tweeted . “Take a deep breath, everyone, and remember that Doc’s widow knew him better than anyone.”
Mussina was annoyed when asked with the final question of the news conference.
“Made it all the way through this whole thing — you gave him one last question,” he told Shestakofsky, who moderated the question-and-answer session.
“I almost split my career down the middle with two organizations,” Mussina said. “Right now I couldn’t sit here and choose one or the other. They’re both instrumental in me sitting here. So, I think that we got a little bit of time here to talk it over with the Hall of Fame and with the people there.”
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