The news broke this weekend and hit the baseball wire fast: Duane Ward, one of the most dominant relievers of his era and a cornerstone of the Blue Jays' early-90s dynasty, passed away over the weekend. He was 62.
The first word out on the wire, confirming Ward's passing.
Ward wasn't a household name the way Joe Carter or Roberto Alomar were, but inside the Blue Jays clubhouse he was the guy who closed the door. He broke into the majors with the Atlanta Braves in 1986 before getting traded to Toronto that same year, and he never left. By the time his career wound down, Ward ranked second in franchise history in both pitching appearances (452) and saves (121) — numbers that put him right at the center of the best stretch of baseball Toronto has ever played.
1991 was the breakout: a 2.77 ERA, 23 saves, and a league-leading 81 appearances out of the bullpen. He was even better as the setup man in 1992, posting a 1.95 ERA the year the Blue Jays won their first World Series in franchise history. Then in 1993 he took over as the closer outright, made the All-Star team, led the American League with 45 saves, and was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of that year's World Series — the game that clinched Toronto's second straight title.
MLB Trade Rumors framed the loss in terms of exactly what Ward meant to those championship teams.
Duane Ward, a star reliever for the #BlueJays' 1992-93 championship teams, passed away this weekend. https://t.co/81yFz5yJJs
There's a gutting detail in the timing here, too. Ward had reportedly arrived in Toronto on Friday, but he wasn't in attendance the next day at Rogers Centre, where more than two dozen players, coaches and executives from the 1992 and 1993 championship teams gathered for the unveiling of a statue honoring those clubs. He was, by all accounts, supposed to be part of that moment.
Tributes have been pouring in across the baseball world since the Blue Jays confirmed he died of natural causes in Toronto. For a franchise that's spent three decades chasing the high of those back-to-back titles, losing one of the arms that actually got them there is the kind of gut punch that reaches well beyond box scores. Ward's saves and ERA numbers will always be in the record book, but for a generation of Blue Jays fans, he'll just be remembered as the guy who got the last out.