Ward joins Henke in Canadian ball hall

Longtime Blue Jays reliever Duane Ward was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

February 5, 2020

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Duane Ward is set to be reunited with longtime bullpen mate Tom Henke - this time in the plaque gallery of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont.

Ward was announced as one of four new Canadian ball hall inductees on Tuesday. He will be inducted along with former Blue Jays teammate John Olerud, Canadian slugger Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) and legendary Montreal Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet (Montreal, Que.) in a ceremony on the Hall of Fame grounds on June 20.

“First to be a part of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame with a guy [Henke] I spent almost 10 years with is quite an honour,” said Ward on Tuesday’s Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame conference call. “It was something I thought of when I was notified that I was being inducted that I would be again side-by-side with my counterpart.”

Over the years, Ward has been asked about his relationship with the man Blue Jays fans know as The Terminator, who was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. The duo is recognized as the most dominant relief tandem in franchise history. For five seasons, from 1988 to 1992, Ward served as Henke’s primary set-up man.

“Through all of the years that we were together from 1986 to 1992, it was a great relationship. I think we really fed off of each other,” explained Ward. “I always use to say that Tom couldn’t do his job unless I did my job before him. It was more of a way of keeping the ball rolling where he would come into a game with a pristine inning and not have to come in there and clean up a mess that I created. So I think in that respect, it was something that we both took great pride in, in that we were trying to do our jobs to the best of our abilities.

“I know that Tom made me a better pitcher and I hope that in turn I made him a better pitcher just because of the friendly competition we always had . . . whether it was playing pranks on each other or going out there and doing the job for our team.”

Ward certainly did his job for the Blue Jays during his nine-season tenure with the club. Selected in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1982 MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves, the hard-throwing right-hander was dealt to the Blue Jays for Doyle Alexander on July 6, 1986.

Starting in 1988, Ward established himself as one of the best shutdown set-up men in the game. In his five seasons serving primarily in that role for the Blue Jays, he never made less than 64 appearances or pitched less than 101 innings. In 1991, the workhorse righty topped American League pitchers with 81 appearances and struck out a career-best 132 batters in 107 1/3 innings and finished ninth in the American League Cy Young voting. He followed that up by registering a career-best 1.95 ERA in 79 appearances in 1992 to help the Blue Jays to their first World Series title.

“He was just dominant,” former teammate and fellow 2020 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, John Olerud said of Ward in Tuesday’s call. “With Wardo coming, you knew you were going to have an easy inning. There rarely was a rough inning when Wardo took the field. He just had great stuff, and the ball didn’t get put in play a whole lot.”

After Henke departed via free agency following the 1992 season, Ward assumed the closer’s role and excelled, topping the American League with 45 saves and 70 games finished in 1993, while allowing just 49 hits and striking out 97 batters in 71 2/3 innings. For his efforts, he was selected to the American League All-Star team and finished fifth in AL Cy Young voting. His 45 saves and 70 games finished remain single-season franchise records. His performance helped propel the Blue Jays to their second consecutive World Series title.

Ward said he didn’t feel any more pressure pitching in the ninth inning than he did when he was in the set-up role.

“Regardless if you had to come into the game in the sixth inning or the ninth inning, you had to face these guys [referring to hitters like Justin Morneau and John Olerud],” said Ward. “And any one inning can cost you a game if it happens to snowball on you. So to me the pressure is the same. But to me when I took over as the closer, when Tom went to Texas, it was, this is where the buck stops. There was nobody coming in behind me . . . I took every inning, whether I came in in the sixth inning or whether I came in in the ninth inning, all the same..”

In 1992 and 1993, Ward was at his best in the Fall Classic. In a combined eight World Series appearances, he posted a 3-0 record with a 1.13 ERA while striking out 13 batters in eight innings, and also registering two saves.

In total, in nine seasons with the Blue Jays, Ward appeared in 452 games, the second-most by a pitcher in franchise history. He is also second in saves (121) and games finished (266).

Since his retirement as a player, Ward has been an active member of the club’s alumni in many charitable efforts. In recent years, he has been one of the lead instructors at baseball clinics for the Toronto Blue Jays Academy and the Jays Care Foundation and has also made appearances for the Alomar Foundation.

Ward said he was overwhelmed with “a flood of feelings and emotions” after he was told he was being inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I can’t state enough how deeply honoured I am to be a part of the 2020 class of inductees to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame,” said Ward in a statement. “I want to thank all of my teammates, coaches, and everyone who helped me through the years. And to my family and friends who supported me unconditionally saying thank you will never be enough.”