Phillies Will Add Roy Halladay, Pat Gillick to Wall of Fame

The Phillies made an announcement during Tuesday's matchup between the Phillies and the Detroit Tigers.  Two big names in Phillies history will be added to the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2018:  Former Phillies general manager and president Pat Gillick and the late Roy Halladay.

Halladay is a natural name to be added to the Phillies.  Even without his tragic death on November 8 when his plane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico, Halladay would have been a good bet to earn the honor in 2018.  The posthumous award is not the only thing the Phillies will do to commemorate Halladay in 2018.

Dan Gelston of the Associated Press writes that the Phillies will hang a flag with Halladay's number 34 throughout the course of the 2018 season.  Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp volunteered to give up jersey number 34 during this offseason and has taken number 15 instead.  The Phillies have not ruled out the possibility that the number might be retired someday.

Under current club rules, they will retire only uniform numbers of players inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Halladay will be eligible for election for the first time this winter.

Also joining Halladay on the Wall of Fame is Gillick, the general manager who led the Phillies to their first World Series Championship since 1980.  Gillick also served as interim president of the Phillies after David Montgomery took ill.  After Montgomery recovered, Montgomery stepped into the role of team chairman and Gillick held the president role permanently until Andy MacPhail was named president in 2016.

Gillick is enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his work as a general manager.

The Phillies did not hold a public vote in 2018.  Common sense dictates that Halladay would have been a lock.  Adding Gillick frees the club up to induct multiple members in future seasons.  The 2008 World Series Champion Phillies team likely will mean that there will be many players inducted over the next few seasons.  This is the first time two Phillies joined the Wall of Fame at once.

The induction ceremony will take place during alumni weekend on Saturday, August 4 at 7:05 p.m. before the Phillies take on the Miami Marlins.