June 20, 2022

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

Toronto Blue Jays fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Duane Ward strolling the grounds prior to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on June 18 could have been forgiven for thinking they saw double.

Or even quadruple.

Ward’s three brothers – Tommy, Gary and Mike – made the trip to St. Marys to see Duane enshrined among the luminaries of Canadian baseball, and the four Ward boys bear a striking resemblance.

“All bald and all look alike,” Gary said with a laugh.

Gary and Mike beamed with pride while telling the Canadian Baseball Network about what their older brother’s election to the Hall of Fame means to the Ward family.

“It’s amazing,” said Mike. “So proud of him, and that other people have recognized what a great career he did have. I think that goes a long ways in his mind – that the time he put in was well worth it.”

Rubbing elbows with former Blue Jays and baseball fans before the ceremony had Gary remembering the many trips the family took to stadiums around the United States to watch Duane excel out of the bullpen with the Blue Jays, first as a setup man to closer Tom Henke and then as the all-star stopper on the 1993 World Series champions.

“Back in those days it was unreal. And now that it’s been 24 years since he played, you kind of forget all about it,” Gary said.

“And then you come to something like this and it all just comes back. It just feels like it’s baseball again, like we’re back at the stadium. Everybody knows who he is. That whole memory starts rushing back when you get around baseball people.”

One of their prized memories was watching Duane pitch in his first World Series against Atlanta.

“And then next year against Philly, we got to go with our dad, who passed away three years ago,” Gary said.

“We got to go with him and watch the World Series, which was awesome.”

During his induction speech, Duane’s voice filled with emotion as he paid tribute to his late father and thanked his brothers and their mother, Evelyn, for making the trip north to share in the special day.

“We came into this world as a team and we continue to be a team,” Duane said to his brothers.

***

Ward’s Canadian baseball story started with the trade that changed his life. Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick acquired the young right-hander from Atlanta in 1986 in exchange for veteran starting pitcher Doyle Alexander.

“I can say this with all honesty – I wasn’t your first pick, was I?” a smiling Ward said to Gillick, who was sitting near the front of the packed tent.

“I think he wanted Tom Glavine,” Ward told the crowd as Gillick chuckled.

Gillick surely ended up pleased with the return for Alexander, as Ward became a late-inning mainstay for the perpetually playoff-bound Blue Jays.

“Couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” Ward told the Canadian Baseball Network before the ceremony.

“For me, the grass was greener on the other side. They gave me a lot of opportunity to play.”

And play he did, putting up numbers that no reliever today could dream of. From 1988 to 1992, Ward pitched at least 100 innings per season, topping out at 127 2/3 in 1990.

He appeared in exactly half the team’s games in 1991, punching out 132 batters in 107 1/3 innings with a 1.05 WHIP, results that earned him ninth place in Cy Young award voting.

Henke was Toronto’s established closer, but Ward recorded double-digit saves every year from 1988 to 1992 before taking over the top job in 1993.

The first-time all-star thrived in the ninth inning that season, saving 45 games and finishing another 25 to account for all but one of his 71 appearances.

In what would be his last full season before injuries curtailed his career, Ward posted a career-best 1.03 WHIP and struck out 97 over his 71 1/3 innings. For his efforts, he finished fifth in the Cy Young race and earned some down-ballot MVP votes.

He came up in the minors as a starter, but he dropped his curve and changeup when he got to the bullpen, relying exclusively on an explosive fastball and wipe-out slider.

“Let me go out there and pitch with what I can dominate with, and make the hitter adjust to me,” Ward explained.

“And it worked out perfectly.”

***

Ward saved his best stuff for the biggest moments, whether that was facing the opposing team’s best hitters with the game on the line or pitching under the bright lights of October.

“To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,” Ward said.

“I hated facing George Brett, but I think every pitcher did,” he added with a laugh.

It’s likely Brett hated facing Ward even more, as the superstar Royals slugger only managed two hits in 12 at-bats against Ward – a factoid noted during the ceremony in a congratulatory message to Ward from former batterymate Buck Martinez read out by emcee Hazel Mae.

Ward said it was “a pleasure and an honour” to pitch in the World Series for Blue Jays teams he considers among the top rosters ever assembled.

“Oh gosh, it was incredible. We had the whole country jumping in unison,” he said.

“I still to this day say those are the two best teams to ever be in Toronto. I don’t care what anybody says.”

In the 1992 championship series, Ward notched two wins among four scoreless appearances against Atlanta, including a shutdown eighth inning in the Game 6 clincher.

He struck out six of the 12 batters he faced, allowing just one hit and one walk.

In 1993, Ward was the last Jays pitcher on the hill for each of Toronto’s wins against Philadelphia, saving Games 1 and 4 and setting down the Phillies in order in the top of the ninth to set up Joe Carter’s Game 6 heroics.

He recorded a 1.93 ERA over 4 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven while issuing no free passes.

“Just another game,” he said of his attitude toward pitching under pressure.

“Go out there and do what you do best – throw strikes and get the hitters out. Don’t try to make it complex.

“We had an advantage all season – we played in front of 52,000 people every night. So 50,000 people at the World Series, hey, it’s no different.”

That said, Ward and his teammates did feel the weight of national expectations.

“We were playing for a country, where all these other teams were playing for a city,” he said.

“We’re playing for 36 million people. We felt the pressure. Believe me, all of us did. But that was the professionalism of the team. Let’s go out there and win games. All we gotta do is win four. And we did – twice.”

***

Ward pitched in 462 total MLB games, all but 10 with the Blue Jays. But when he touched down in Toronto after getting traded as a 22-year-old, that was his first time north of the border.

“I loved it. Fans were great, teammates were great, the organization was great,” Ward said of his first impressions of Canada.

“As time went on, it was like I was at my second home.”

Since then, Ward has gotten to know Canada much better as a coach with the Blue Jays Academy and a volunteer with the Jays Care Foundation. He has travelled to 10 provinces and one territory, giving back to the nation that embraced him by teaching the game to kids from coast to coast to coast.

“He’s seen more of Canada than Stompin’ Tom Connors,” said Mae, who described Ward as a “hard-throwing, overpowering, Canada-loving right-hander.”

During his speech, Ward gave credit to all his past pitching coaches, among them Galen Cisco with Toronto, and thanked his catchers – including Pat Borders and Ernie Whitt, who were in the audience – for blocking his frequent sliders in the dirt.

“They put their bodies on the line so I could be successful,” Ward said while praising the tight-knit Blue Jays clubhouse.

“Every teammate I ever had wished me the best, and they made me a better player every single day,” he said.

“I hope I made them better, too.”