It was twenty years ago, but the excitement is still there as Tom Henke as looks back on the 1995 season–his last in the big leagues.
“It was a dream come true coming to St. Louis,” shared Henke. “I’d just about retired after the ’94 season and I was ready to kind of call it quits. Fortunately, Walt Jocketty and Joe Torre called me up and said ‘hey, how would you like to play close to home one year?’. I said you know what, that’s something I would love to do. Good or bad, I knew it was going to be my last year. I think the good Lord took care of me and I had a great year that year–was able to play in the All-Star Game win the Rolaids Relief Award that year. The only that would’ve made it better was getting into the playoffs and possibly a World Series with the Cardinals.”
Henke pitched 0.2 of an inning in the 1995 All-Star Game–striking out Mo Vaughn and getting Paul O’Neill to fly out to center. He finished with 36 saves that season–the second highest total of his 14 year career. But when the season was over, “The Terminator” stuck by his earlier decision and called it career.
Any second thoughts?
“It’s always tempting to look back and say I wish I would’ve played a couple more years,” said Henke. “It would’ve gave a me a few more saves, possibly a shot at the Hall of Fame–those types of things. I had made up mind. It was a family decision. My kids were getting old enough to start high school, they kind of needed dad around. My wife was pretty much a single parent for sixteen years so it was a good time to go and what a year to go out on.”
His 311 saves still rank 21st amongst Major League career saves leaders–not bad for a kid who grew up outside of Jefferson City in Wardsville, Missouri and spent his days in Catholic school rooting for the Cardinals.
“The only time we were allowed to bring radios to school was during the ’64, ’67, ’68 World Series,” recalled Henke. “It was just a magical time.”
And with ten brothers and sisters, there was always a ballgame in the field next to their house. Henke would pretend to be Gibson when he pitched and Orlando Cepeda when he played in the field.
“The ’95 season, getting to play for St. Louis that year was a dream come true for me,” added Henke. “Having Bob Gibson as my bullpen coach. Lou Brock there as one of our bench coaches–these are guys I grew up idolizing and watching as a kid. Being able to sit with those guys and visit with those guys and see them every day, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
photo credit: SIKids.com
