Bob Ford: Halladay: 'This is where I wanted to be'

If he said it once, he said it 100 times.

In fact, as Roy Halladay was shuttled from the news conference dais to individual standup interviews with all the television and radio stations and then back for another lengthy stretch of questioning, he probably did say it 100 times.

"This is where I wanted to be," said Halladay, who was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Phillies yesterday.

Over and over, the pitcher many call the best in baseball said he wanted to play only for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Put everything else aside for the moment. Put aside how nice it might have been to obtain Halladay and keep Cliff Lee as well. Accept general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.'s explanation that trading Lee to the Seattle Mariners wasn't about the money. It was about getting three raw prospects in return to help restock the farm system.

Fine, take that for what it's worth and then put it aside. Step back and look at the wider canvas. The best players in baseball want to be here.

It wasn't that long ago that players would rather face Randy Johnson without a batting helmet than come to Philadelphia. Big-name players with a choice - the top free agents, the stars who could veto trades or direct them - didn't put the Phillies on the short list of desirable teams. Could you blame them?

The Phils played in a horrifically bad stadium. The artificial turf alone was enough to keep players away. You saw artificial turf, they saw artificial knees somewhere down the road.

As bad as Veterans Stadium was, the team was often worse. Just 10 seasons ago, the Phillies were 65-97 and drew 1.6 million fans. Good players were not demanding their agents somehow get them to Philadelphia.

Well, that was then. After getting a new ballpark, after getting some money to spend, after making a lot of the right decisions with that money, after having some luck, the Phillies have won three straight division titles and made it to the World Series twice in a row.

Suddenly, it's not so bad to be us.

"This is going to give me a chance to go out and achieve the goals I've strived for in this game," Halladay said. "It was an easy decision for me once the opportunity arrived. To be part of this is something I couldn't pass up. There are things in life and in business that are more important, and this is one of them. There are just so many positives for me and my family."