Verge: "Big Friendly Giant" Duane Ward gave me his hat and hope

Canadian Baseball Network writer Melissa Verge (left) met Duane Ward at two different Toronto Blue Jays camps when she he was a teenager. She remembers him as a “Big Friendly Giant.” Photo supplied.

July 21, 2026

By Melissa Verge

Canadian Baseball Network

He could've been intimidating.

No matter what career field Duane Ward chose, the 6-foot-4 baseball player from New Mexico would've been for his sheer height alone.

Add to that, me, a Blue Jays obsessed teenager from the remote wilderness of New Brunswick, about to meet him, THE Duane Ward, a Blue Jays two-time World Series hero.

It was surreal.

I still remember seeing the list of instructors for the Blue Jays 2012 Honda Super Camp before signing up and reading their biographies from my parents desktop computer. The camp was an opportunity for young kids across the country to learn from the best, including former World Series heroes.

Duane was coming to Moncton, New Brunswick, and I would actually get to meet him?

I felt like the luckiest 16-year-old in the world (and the most anxious.)

I was intimidated before I even stepped out of my parents’ car for the Blue Jays Honda Super Camp.

But I found out quickly, Duane was not as intimidating as his accomplishments (such as his American League leading 45 saves in 1993) or his height made him out to be. His kindness made him the opposite. He was like the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) Roald Dahl wrote about, a book I had on my childhood shelf in N.B., and had read many times before 2012 came around and I met the BFG in real life. I'm certain, Duane was the friendliest giant to set foot on that field in Moncton.

In this piece I'm not going to refer to him by his last name, Ward, as is proper and taught in journalism school, upon second reference. It feels cold, impersonal.

And that wouldn't be genuine, it wouldn't be fair to who Duane was, because he was the opposite of that.

He was direct, an excellent teacher of the game.

And, he was kind. That kindness is what I want to focus on. I could spew the stats. He had an American League leading 45 saves in 1993, which is still a franchise record. He was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series, and he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

But I want you to understand who Duane was, and the impact I know he had on the game of baseball in Canada, and on young players who loved the game.

As a teen, Canadian Baseball Network writer Melissa Verge (right) met Duane Ward at two different baseball camps in Moncton, N.B. At one of the camps, Ward literally gave her the hat off his head. Photo supplied.

He must've met thousands of kids across Canada that 2012 summer, all baseball fanatics, all Blue Jays fans. But somehow, he made me feel special when we interacted at the camp.

I think it's important to remember him not just for the incredible athlete that he was, but how he made people feel.

And Duane made me feel important.

I remember a moment in the dugout where Duane took the Blue Jays hat off his own head, and gave it to me to have.

I also remember we played catch on the field.

Just playing catch with Duane, it felt like I had been transported into a dream I didn't ever want to wake up from.

I was just a kid from N.B., and he was a Blue Jays icon. But we weren't just literally on the same baseball field, he made me feel like we were on the same playing field.

It wasn't the only time we crossed paths. When I went back in 2013 for another Honda Super Camp, Duane was there once again. Whenever we met, he'd give me a hug and make me feel like he always had - important.

He made me feel like I could do anything, and was a part of the fire that fueled me to continue following my dreams of being a baseball writer.

We crossed paths again in Toronto. At the Blue Jays showcase at Rogers Centre in 2017, I interviewed him for a story.

He was a great teacher, and told me this then during the interview:

“It never hurts to try something new, you can go back to your old way but it never hurts to try. It might be better for you, it might not do anything for you, but try it, and listen when guys talk. That's how you learn.”

It was my mom who told me about his passing, she saw the news first. He passed away in Toronto at just 62, while in town for the weekend ceremony honouring he and his former teammates on the 1992 and 93 World Series winning teams.

I was shocked and deeply saddened.

It didn't truly hit me until I flipped through a photo album and saw the pictures of us from back in 2012 and 2013.

I was transported back to that 16-year-old kid, back to that baseball field in Moncton, where Duane was a big part of some of my most special childhood memories.

His accomplishments speak for themselves. He was an incredible baseball player.

But Duane was so much more than that.

In the brief times our paths crossed, he made me feel like my dreams were possible. He paid attention. He made a 16-year-old kid feel empowered.

He was a special baseball player, yes. But he's not frozen in my memory on the mound helping the Jays to victory.

He's there in Moncton, New Brunswick, handing me his hat.

He's graciously giving me his time in an interview at the Rogers Centre.

He's tall, yes, but no longer intimating. He's the BFG. He's kindness in a 6-foot-4 giant. He went out of his way to give a kid not just his hat, but hope that she could be something in the game.

For me, Duane Ward will forever be remembered as that - an incredibly special person.