Closer
After years of being in Tom Henke's shadow, Ward took over the closer's role in 1993. The Blue Jays again won the World Series, and Ward posted a league-best 45 saves, tying him with Jeff Montgomery of the Kansas City Royals.
Ward set the Toronto Blue Jays' single-season record for saves with 45 in 1993.
The rest of Ward's career was beset by injuries and he would never save another Major League game after 1993. After missing the entire 1994 season due to biceps tendinitis, he retired from the Toronto Blue Jays after pitching four games during the 1995 season. He finished with a 3.28 ERA and 121 saves.
Read more about this topic: Duane Ward
Famous quotes containing the word closer:
“The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“Every new development for the last three centuries has brought men closer to a state of affairs in which absolutely nothing would be recognized in the whole world as possessing a claim to obedience except the authority of the State. The majority of people in Europe obey nothing else.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“the closer I move
To death, one man through his sundered hulks,
The louder the sun blooms
And the tusked, ramshackling sea exults....”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)