St. Louis Cardinals: Top Ten Free Agent Signings

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#2 Tom Henke

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After 13 good seasons out of the bullpen for the Blue Jays and Texas Rangers and earning the nickname “The Terminator”, Henke was a free agent after the 1994 season, and the Cardinals got him to come to town on a one year $2,325,000 deal. Henke responded with a monster year as the Cardinals’ closer. Henke finished the season with a 1.82 ERA (career best) and 36 saves for the 62-81 Cardinals.

Unfortunately, Henke was uninterested in another season with the club and decided to hang it up after that season. It would have been interesting to see what Tony Larussa would have done with such a weapon in the bullpen, could have been a key part of that 96 team that lost to the Braves in the NLCS. If you’re interested in why Henke retired after the 1995 season, check out this article from Cooperstowners in Canada.

Next: Delino DeShields