Batting .500

Writer-director David S. Ward--who debut-directed the ill-fated “Cannery Row” in 1982--feels he’s hit a home run career-wise with “Major League.”

“I’m definitely not going to have to wait six years to direct my next picture,” said Ward, who originally shot to prominence as the screenwriter on “The Sting.” “The problems and reception of ‘Cannery Row’ had a negative effect on my getting assignments. I was never sent other people’s scripts for consideration as a director and had a hard time getting myself attached to things I wrote.”

But that’s changed in the two weeks since “Major League” opened--grossing more than $20 million--with offers coming in for him to direct screenplays written by others.

Meanwhile, he’s tentatively due to direct a project for producers Mark Rosenberg and Sydney Pollack, “a contemporary romantic comedy--and I still have to finish a first draft.”