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BRADENTON, Fla. -- Turner Ward wanted All-Star game tickets. The Pirates wanted a manager for their Bradenton entry in the Gulf Coast Rookie League.

Both received what they sought.

Now, Ward, a rough-and-tumble hero of the 1997 Pirates, can see if he can mold a kid into the same type of player he was. In short, can he motivate him enough to run through a wall for him?

After all, he did.

"What a great thing to have your first-year kids learning lessons from a guy who played the game like that," said Brian Graham, the Pirates' player development director.

It was May 3, 1998, a sunny Sunday afternoon at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates trailed Los Angeles, 10-0, late in the game. The "contest" was so one-sided that each manager had begun removing his regulars.

Ward was one of those moves, going into right field. He soon would make the highlight play of an otherwise ho-hum game.

Mike Piazza drove a ball deep into right-center field. Ward, with no regard to where the warning track was -- not to mention the wall -- raced full-speed toward the ball and snagged it just before crashing into, and through, the wall. For a moment, Ward couldn't be seen by most of the fans. Then he returned through the wall, holding the ball while the fans roared.

Why would he risk his career in a 10-0 game? "I just always felt I had to give everything I've got.

"I always wanted to give everything I had. The score never dictated how I played the game. It might have dictated how I needed to be in a situation, but it never dictated how I was going to play the game.

"I know it was a 10-0 game, but I always said I would run through a wall to catch a ball. And to know that I actually did, well, that kind of epitomized my career, really."

It's definitely the kind of play that sticks in one's mind. And it definitely stuck in Doug Strange's mind. He was a Pirates third baseman in 1998. He became a scout for the Pirates, then ascended to assistant to general manager Dave Littlefield.

Ward, who retired after the 2001 season, went home to L.A. -- "Lower Alabama," he said with a grin -- and coached his son, Tucker, and his Little League team. He figured his days in professional baseball in any capacity were over. He'd become a full-time family man.

Barely two weeks ago, Ward, 40, had a father/son idea. He'd take Tucker, 13, to the All-Star game in July. "Since it was in Pittsburgh," Ward said. "Pittsburgh was always my favorite place to have played. It really felt like home to me."

He called Strange, left a message and waited a couple days for Strange to return the call.

"I don't know what you were calling about," Strange told Ward, "but we have a little situation here that you might be interested in."

Only a few days before, Pete Mackanin, who had been named the Bradenton manager, left to become Cincinnati's major-league advance scout for Wayne Krivsky, the Reds' new general manager.

Ward didn't know about that. He just wanted to see if he could secure All-Star game tickets. Strange told Ward about the Bradenton opportunity.

"When you're in this game, you stay in contact over the years with guys you played with and against," Strange said. "Knowing him personally, he epitomizes what we're trying to do: Play the game the right way, be prepared, play hard, give full effort and be a professional. And that's what he is."

Ward, flattered by the offer, said he couldn't take the job.

"I kind of had a similar opportunity with the Cleveland Indians just a few weeks before that I turned down and I was just grateful for them even asking," Ward said. "And I really told Doug the same thing -- 'Man, I appreciate you all asking me. I just can't pick up and leave my family.' "

Ward and his wife, Donna, also have two younger children -- a daughter Kendall (named for former Pirates catcher Jason Kendall) and a son Olin (named for Cleveland pitcher Steve Olin, who was killed in a boat accident in spring training in 1993).

After talking to Strange, Ward told his wife about the Pirates' offer. At Donna and Tucker Ward's urging, he reconsidered his decision. Ward called Strange back and was told the offer was on the table.

Ward will manage 18- and 19-year-olds -- most of them fresh out of the June draft -- in the searing heat and the sapping humidity of the south Florida summer.

"He'll teach guys how to approach the game," Graham said. "That it's about being a professional, from the way you wear your uniform to the way you take batting practice and to your work habits on the field.

"And when the game starts, how you go about your business -- running out balls hard, backing up bases."

Partly because this all happened so quickly for Ward, the Pirates were willing to be flexible with his work hours.

Oh, and Graham already has given Ward permission to take a couple of days off in July so he and Tucker can attend the All-Star game in Pittsburgh.