ST. MARYS, Ont. — The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame grew by three Saturday as Tom Henke, Allan Simpson and George Wood were inducted.
Henke played for the Toronto Blue Jays for eight years, pitching in 446 games, winning 29 and compiling a 2.48 earned-run average. His 217 saves are a franchise best.
Henke, known by the nickname “the Terminator”, was the closer for the Jays squad that won the 1992 World Series. He also played for the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals.
The native of Kansas City, Mo., played a total of 14 years in the majors with career totals of 41 wins, 311 saves, 861 strikeouts and a 2.67 ERA.
Simpson, from Kelowna, B.C., is the founder and original editor of Baseball America, a bi-weekly magazine with the motto “Baseball news you can’t find anywhere else.”
He was the guiding hand of the magazine for 25 years before moving on to become vice-president and director of national scouting with Perfect Game USA, the world’s largest baseball event company and scouting service.
Wood, best known by the nickname “Dandy”, played from 1880-92 and was only the eighth Canadian to reach the major leagues and one of three to come from Prince Edward Island, along with Vern Handrahan and Henry Oxley.
Over 12 years Wood played as an outfielder for Worcester, Detroit, the Philadelphia Quakers and the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore and Cincinnati.
The native of Pownal, P.E.I., was the only person on the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s ballot who had played more than 1,000 games.