Duane Ward

Lore & Background

Ward was from Farmington, New Mexico, where he played amateur baseball programs in the American Amateur Baseball Congress and Connie Mack World Series. He was drafted out of high school in the first round, ninth overall, of the 1982 draft. Ward made his MLB debut with the Braves in 1986 and was traded to the Blue Jays that year. After emerging as one of baseball's top setup men, he was an All-Star as a closer in 1993, when he led the American League with a franchise-record 45 saves and was a member of the 1992 and 1993 World Series championship teams. His 452 appearances and 121 saves for Toronto rank second in franchise history. Ward was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Reader's Guide

Ward attended Farmington High School in Farmington, New Mexico, where he played baseball for the Scorpions. On the competitive amateur circuit, he played in the American Amateur Baseball Congress leagues and the Connie Mack World Series; his plaque hangs in the tournament's hall of fame at Ricketts Park in Farmington. Ward also helped lead the Scorpions basketball team to a 26–0 season and the state Class 4A championship in 1981–82. The Atlanta Braves selected Ward in the first round, ninth overall, of the 1982 MLB draft, shortly after his senior season.

He is tied with Jim Kremmel (1971) for the second-highest draft pick of players hailing from New Mexico, behind shortstop Alex Bregman, who was selected with the second pick in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft. Primarily a starting pitcher during a four-season rise through the Braves' farm system, with stops in rookie ball and at Anderson, Durham, Greenville and Triple-A Richmond, Ward was converted to relief pitching by manager Chuck Tanner, who told him he saw 'so much of Goose Gossage' in him.

Ward made his MLB debut with the Braves on April 12, 1986, pitching a scoreless eighth inning in a 4–3 road loss to the Houston Astros; the game matched his childhood idol, Nolan Ryan, against Braves starter Rick Mahler, with Ward's parents in attendance. After posting a 7.31 earned run average (ERA) in 16 innings, he was optioned to Triple-A Richmond in early June, and a month later, on July 6, the Braves traded the 22-year-old to the Toronto Blue Jays for veteran pitcher Doyle Alexander.

Ward became one of the Jays' most dependable middle and late inning relievers after breaking into the major league bullpen in 1988, when he went 9–3 with a 3.30 ERA and 15 saves over 111⅔ innings in 64 appearances. Standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m), his pitching repertoire featured a mid-90s fastball and a hard, sweeping slider, and he regularly pitched more than one inning while appearing in 65 to 80 games a season. He remained in the setup role ahead of closer Tom Henke through the 1992 season.

Toronto had previously reached the American League Championship Series in 1989 and 1991, losing to the Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins respectively.