He had never received that honor in all of those years pitching in Toronto. At the end of the season, he was the 1995 National League Rolaids Relief Award winner. Sprint Speed. Yes it requires someone to lift their eyes up from the abacus for a moment and I know things like emotion and impressions are forbidden in some peoples eyes. On January 24, 2011, Henke was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Hall during a ceremony at St Marys, Ontario, on June 18, 2011. Mariano Rivera was one of those exceptions. You saw what happened with Mike Perez. Or write about sports? In January 1985, the Blue Jays selected him as a free agent compensation pick. From 1986 through 1993, Henke saved at least 20 games each season. henke tom jays blue saves bluejay career finished his greatest choose board henke WebHentgen spent the 1993 season with Toronto. Since 1995, Henke has teamed with the Jefferson City, Missouri Cosmo Club to hold the annual Tom Henke Charity Classic Golf Tournament which raises money for the Special Learning Center, a school for handicapped children. I never understood the lack of respect a great closer gets. I know you will disagree with me on this statement, but I think there is actually more pressure in a playoff game than a game in May. Ahhh if only everyone commented like the Hardball Times readers. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. Perez opened the 1994 season as the Cardinals closer, but struggled in the role and ended the season with an 8.71 ERA. [Im using ERA+ to create an expected winning pct and basing expected decisions based on every 9IP. In 1980, a couple of friends, who believed Henke had pro-caliber stuff, told him they would buy the beer if he showed up at a talent evaluation opportunity; he did and was noticed. In 1983, Henke would finally be promoted to Oklahoma City in the American Association, but again his development would stall and he would spend much of the next three seasons at AAA. Rollie and Goose were Hall of Famers. Eck got smoked in the 1988 World Series, giving up a game-winning dong to a guy who had two injured knees. He understood and recognized talent better than I ever could have and was always watching me pitch, telling me how to improve my delivery and get it in the strike zone.. This great control pitcher walked the batter in front of Gibson to set up that confrontation. But an MVP cleanup hitters is not a bullpen closer. It is one thing to take a Dustin Hermanson, plop him in the closer role and see him pile up 34 saves. After high school, Henke played at East Central Junior College. And how, exactly, is Eck not a save-compiler?, a concept I like but whose application here I disagree with. Which is probably hypocritical of me. Eckersley at his peak as a reliever was so good that it wasnt fair when he came in. [1] Born near Lohman in 1937 as the oldest of two sons of William Buchta and Alma Koestner, Don spent his first year at Mount Hope School a one-room schoolhouse that closed when it consolidated with the Russellville School District. velocity and launch angle. [9] Joe Ostermeier, Cards move to beef up pitching, Belleville News-Democrat, December 13, 1994. Nice article! Now, his statistics in the 2002 postseasson were epic, arguably the best single postseason performance of all time for a hitter. Yes, relievers of that era deserve some consideration for being asked to complete multi-inning saves, but the fact is their save percentages were only average as compared to the other closers of their era (or in the case of Gossage, far worse). All rights reserved. pitch. And maybe had a year or two where they were elite, but not in this discussion. Hey, I blew this game. Interesting that you give a pass to Eckersley who had one of the most dramatic flops in World Series history and who had a couple of other poor post-season performances as well. He blew big game after big game to the point where you could feel opposing teams getting giddy when he started warming up. The World Series label/link in the final section only shows whether or not Tom Henke was in the World Series during the season where he appeared in the All-Star Game (Dash=Not in the Series | Stats=In the Series and the link leads to the World Series Game). I dont think you can decide a players worthiness for the HOF based on such a small sample, no matter how memorable that sample is. The underlying theme of this post was that Henke and Ward were matched up together and Henkes save compiling didnt start until he left Toronto. Thats 14, and that was just off the top of my head. Yet his post season record is not very impressive, I think his case for Cooperstown is better than Hoffmans but I would really need to sit down with a microscope and figure it out. He won his only start in the 1993 World Series and helped the Blue Jays win the championship. His strikeout-to-walk ratio as a starter was 2.63; as a reliever it was 6.29. Lets take, in the opposite end of the spectrum, the case of Armando Benitez. "Do you have a favorite quote from or about this particular Major League Baseball player that you would like to see here? Become a Stathead today and run queries with our. If you have any evidence that Jeff Bagwell used steroids, then lets hear it. Over the last five years of his career, Eck accumulated 150 saves despite an ERA over 4.00. I dont give Eckersley a pass But, as I typed before, he had some dominating post season performances. Copyright According to our Database, He has no children. All good pitchers with nice careers to be sure. I know it seems inconsistent from me, but hear me out. Heres my Mets post that is causing so much trouble, http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2011/03/tip-for-mets-10-better-ways-to-spend-18.html. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Maybe he would join a playoff-bound team and get another shot at a ring (and a chance to close it out himself.) He throws that hard and cant see? We just assign different values to games. He did not just pile up saves due to longevity; his numbers were excellent throughout his career and managers had to make decisions based on the knowledge that he was looming to close in the last inning. As a high school senior in Fresno, Calif. he stood 59 and weighed 160 pounds. Copyright 1999- Despite strong numbers in the minors and similar numbers during his intermittent times in Texas, Henke was labeled as a pitcher who had trouble finding the strike zone (finishing with 20 walks in 28 1/3 innings with the Rangers in 1984) and appeared to be the odd man out in the Rangers' bullpen. I countered that those last innings are what derailed the Braves in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2005. http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2007/09/innings-bobby-cox-regrets.html. Hes in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, for what its worth. In 1994, however, a stint on the disabled list limited him to just 15 saves in 21 opportunities. October numbers are a nice frosting on top for most position players. And I dont care how many saves Trevor Hoffman and John Franco piled up, they never shortened the game. Thomas Anthony Henke (born December 21, 1957), nicknamed "The Terminator", is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. Like I said, this is a goofy list]: He also saved game 3, a 2-1 SD victory by striking out all 3 men he faced in the 9th. "Every kid should have a dad like that", Henke said. And if that is how you watch the game, then fine. Henke's nickname, "The Terminator", was given to him by teammate John Cerutti in 1985 after they saw the movie The Terminator together. Coach Buchta was always right there trying to instruct us because we were pretty raw when he got us, Henke said. 8/18/95: Cardinals closer Tom Henke records career save No. The comments here are a breath of fresh air compared to some on my blog. I lump them in with Reardon, Todd Jones, John Wetteland and Roberto Hernandez. I dont know if I would put them above Fingers, but they certainly had damn fine careers. But by the late 1980s, Henke was saving games along side Duane Ward and being part of a devastatingly deep Toronto bullpen. So I put the most weight on the games that have the most pressure. Lincoln University, a Historically Black College and University, had recently opened its doors to all students, leading to declining enrollment and the closure of the junior college. He then pitched a scoreless 9th. He struck out 9.8 batters over nine innings over 14 seasons in the bigs. I do think that performance in the post-season can be an added factor for a player about whom you are on the fence, but I do not think it is a determining factor or even particularly important. Daily Updates on Trending News Stories in Missouri, Don Buchta became coach when Blair Oaks opened, instructed Tom Henke, Sen. Rick Brattin Praises Pro-Life Ruling Overturning Roe v. Wade Missouri Senate, Miscellaneous: Today in History (6/27/22), Hundreds profess faith in Christ during L.I.F.E. Well, lets assume that Ron Northey, Smoky Burgess, Jerry Lynch, Gates Brown, and Manny Mota are the greatest pinch-hitters in history. The Jays would win the game in extra innings and it was Mike Timlin who closed out the series. Now if you take the Fantasy Baseball POV that a 3 run walk off home run in the bottom of the 9th in late September is worth less than a garbage time Grand Slam in April, then I guess there is no arguing. If so, please send it to us, and we'll update this page immediately." In 2000, Henke was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. I tried to get over here in 1992 when I was a free agent but they had Lee Smith at the time. attempt. He is not dating anyone. September 30, 1995 Show me the spots on Hoffmans resume that REMOTELY resemble those. in Kansas City, MO Stats. Off the top of my head I dont know who I would consider the top 5 maybe Ill take a look and ponder it later. But what you have to remember is I DID get the save on April 24th against Milwaukee so you shouldnt weigh tonights game any heavier than that one.. 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