Rich Harden has pitched his way into his second sports hall of fame.
The compact, efficiently powerful hurler was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday in St. Mary’s Ont., in the Class of 2023 along with former Toronto Blue Jays player Jesse Barfield, former Montreal Expos left-handed pitcher Denis Boucher and Manitoba baseball builder Joe Wiwchar.
Also being enshrined today are Class of 2020 inductees, former Blue Jays first-baseman John Olerud and legendary Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet, whose induction ceremony was interrupted by the pandemic.
Harden was inducted into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2018.
The Layritz youth baseball and the Victoria Mariners junior product made it to the big time and amassed a 59-38 Major League Baseball record over nine seasons, mostly with the Oakland Athletics, with a 3.76 career ERA.
Harden, 41, had 949 strikeouts in 928 innings, the 14th best strikeout-rate-by-innings in MLB history.
Although best known with the A’s from 2003 to 2008, the Islander also played with the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers through 2010, and ended his career back in Oakland in 2011.
“I am proud and honoured to have my name added to a list that includes so many great people who have had such a positive impact on baseball in sa国际传媒,” Harden said in a statement.
“I’m so grateful to all the people who helped and supported me along the way.”
Harden’s low centre of gravity helped him create terrific body torque to unleash a devastating fastball. He also had a notable splitter as a change of pace that often baffled batters. Injuries, however, curtailed his career.
“It was frustrating how it ended and I wish it could have lasted longer to see what I could have done,” he said, when entering the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.
“It happened so quickly and I just went with it, putting my head down, and working hard. I wasn’t even thinking about the pros. I didn’t know much about it. I just wanted to have fun playing baseball.”
The Claremont Secondary graduate was an all-rounder and also a rep hockey player with the Racquet Club.
Barfield, known for his cannon arm from the outfield, played 1,032 games over nine seasons with the Blue Jays and is seventh all-time in Jays history with 179 home runs and ninth in both career total bases with 1,672 and RBIs with 527.
Montreal-native Boucher is the first Canadian to play for both the Expos and Blue Jays. After his playing career, Boucher became Canadian national team pitching coach at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and in four World Baseball Classics.
