Retired baseball star Roy Halladay dies in plane crash

MIAMI. KAZINFORM Roy Halladay, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who twice won the Cy Young Award, died Tuesday when his small plane went down in the Gulf of Mexico. He was 40, according to EFE .

Halladay, who got his pilot's license after retiring from baseball, was at the controls of the single-engine ICON A5 when it crashed off the southwest Florida coast, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

His body was found in the water, the sheriff's office said.

"All of us at baseball are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic passing of former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

"A well-respected figure throughout the game, Roy was a fierce competitor during his 16-year career, which included eight All-Star selections, two Cy Young Awards, a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter," Manfred said.

Halladay, nicknamed "Doc," retired in 2013.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate to determine the cause of the crash, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told a press conference.