Byron Ward

Ruben Byron Ward

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 172 lb.

• Born February 11, 1969 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Byron Ward played for about 15 years in the Hoofdklasse. He debuted in 1985 at age 16, hitting .309 for the Amsterdam Pirates; the youngster followed by topping .300 for them each of the next 3 seasons. He was 1 for 10 in the 1987 Holland Series, the first Holland Series ever played, and Amsterdam won. He hit .364 in the 1989 Holland Series. He also appeared with the Dutch national team in the 1987 World Port Tournament and 1987 European Championship (in which the Netherlands took home the Gold Medal).

Ward moved to Haarlem Nicols in 1989 and batted .350 while slugging .392. He hit .292/?/.331 in 1990, .288/?/.376 in 1991 and .330/?/.430 in 1992. He played in the 1992 Haarlem Baseball Week. He hit .406 and slugged .531 for Nicols in 1993. Returning to the Pirates in 1994, he hit .329 and slugged .407. He was 7 for 14 in the 1994 Baseball World Cup, with two doubles, a run and three RBI while fielding .889 at third (which he split with Ron Agterberg). He had the best average on the Netherlands, .115 ahead of Evert-Jan 't Hoen. He did not play enough to qualify for the event batting leaders or he would have been 4th after Ermidelio Urrutia, Dagoberto López and Omar Linares.

After a year out of the Hoofdklasse, Ward joined the Hoofddorp Pioniers in 1996 and hit .417 while slugging .559. He made his final appearances with the Orange in the 1996 Haarlem Baseball Week and 1996 Olympics. In the Summer Games that year, he was 1 for 8 with 3 walks while splitting third base duties with Giel ten Bosch. His lone hit was a good one - a solo shot off Omar Luis in a loss to Cuba.

In 1997, Ward hit .323 and slugged .431 for Hoofddorp. He was 2 for 14 in the 1997 Holland Series, won by the Pioniers. He did not play in 1998 then hit only .212 with a .246 slugging percentage for ADO in 1999. Through that season, the veteran had hit .332 and slugged .408 in 459 games in Dutch baseball's top loop.

Primary Sources: Honkbalgids 2000 by Marco Stoovelaar, Defunct IBAF site