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Former Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Duane Ward abruptly left a dinner with a group of former teammates shortly before his death was announced on Sunday, July 19. He was 62.
“That wasn’t like Wardo to leave early,” Ward’s former Blue Jays bullpen mate Tom Henke told the Toronto Sun on Sunday. “I asked him, ‘Are you feeling alright?’ I didn’t like the way he looked, to be honest.”
Ward, Henke, 68, and a group of former teammates were in Toronto over the weekend for the unveiling of a statue commemorating the franchise’s back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. The group had dinner on the evening of Friday, July 17.
When the team was scheduled to head to Rogers Centre the next day, however, Ward was nowhere to be found.
“I didn’t know where he was,” Henke said.
Former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston told the Sun, “I thought something was wrong when he was late. Wardo was one of those guys who was never late. He was always on time.”
The statue unveiling went on in Ward’s absence before Toronto’s game against the Chicago White Sox. The Blue Jays announced Ward’s death on Sunday morning, revealing he had died by natural causes.
“Duane will be deeply missed by our fans, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family,” the team said in a statement. “Duane will always be a cherished part of the Blue Jays family, and we will be forever grateful for his contributions to our organization and to baseball in Canada.”
No other details about Ward’s death have been publicly revealed.
A moment of silence was held for Ward before Sunday’s game against the White Sox.
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“I’m shocked right now,” Henke said about Ward’s sudden death. “How can you not be? I had supper with Wardo when he came in. We got to visit. I’m thinking now, I’m so glad I got to do that. I’m glad I got one more time with him.”
Gaston, 82, lauded Ward’s important role on the back-to-back title teams, saying the late pitcher “made my job easier.”
“He was just a good pitcher, man,” he recalled. “He took no prisoners on the mound. Sometimes I’d go out to the mound to talk to him just to bust his balls. I’d ask him, ‘How are you going to get this guy out?’ He’d tell me to get the hell back to the dugout and that he knew what he was doing.”
Gaston added, “We never worried about the 8th and 9th innings when we had Henke and Ward in the bullpen.”
