Tom Henke turns 66 today. The Blue Jays acquired him as compensation for the Rangers' signing of Cliff Johnson. The trade turned out to be in favor of the Jays, as Henke had an impressive start to his career. However, it was surprising that he received MVP and Rookie of the Year votes.
Tom Henke turns 66 today. The Blue Jays got Henke as compensation for the Rangers ’ signing of Jays’ free-agent Cliff Johnson . Back then, teams that signed another free agent gave up a player to the original club. A team would protect some players, and the team that lost the free agent would choose someone. It turned free agency into a trade. Generally, it worked out much better for the team signing the free agent. In this case, it worked out very badly for the Rangers .
The Jays got the better player, and a few months later, the Jays traded a few players who would never amount to anything to get Cliff Johnson back. The Rangers traded Tom Henke for 82 games worth of Cliff. Henke got the major league team call at the end of July 1985. In the last couple of months of the season, Tom got into 28 games, earned 13 saves, and had a 2.03 ERA in 40 innings pitched, one heck of a start to a career. Still, it seems strange that Henke would receive MVP votes and some votes for Rookie of the Year, including one first-place vote
Tom Henke Blue Jays Rangers Cliff Johnson Trade Free Agent Compensation Career MVP Rookie Of The Year