After a mutual parting of ways with Manager Wally Backman this fall, the Long Island Ducks have decided to stay in house and promoted Hitting Coach/Outfielder Lew Ford to Manager.
Ford has been the longest tenured Duck in franchise history and has been a key piece of their hitting core ever since he joined the franchise 13 years ago. The Central Islip Native has played in more games than anyone in team history while holding the team record for most hits in team history with 1,036, which puts him third all-time in the Atlantic League history.
Additionally, he sits second all-time among Ducks players in batting average (.318 in a minimum 1,000 at bats), games played (877), runs batted in (511), runs scored (549), doubles (227) and total bases (1,541).
The 47-year-old Ford has served in a hitting coach or bench coach role for the team alongside his playing duties since 2014. During that time, he has helped two Ducks players be named Atlantic League Player of the Year (Jordany Valdespin, 2018; Steve Lombardozzi, 2021). He has also guided two Ducks players to ALPB batting titles (Sean Burroughs, 2015; Alejandro De Aza, 2022).
Before Ford became a Ducks Legend, he spent parts of seven seasons at the Major League level. He is most recognized for his six seasons with the Minnesota Twins (2003-07), helping the club to three postseason appearances and was the last active member of the Twins to be on the roster when the team won a playoff game before they went on a 19 year winless drought before this past year.
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| Lew Ford LI Duck |
Many people both inside and outside the organization felt that Ford would become the Manager of the Ducks due to his tenure with the team and his relationship with the players already being very strong.
“Lew has been an outstanding representative of the Ducks organization over the past 15 years,” said Ducks Founder/CEO/Owner Frank Boulton in a press release regarding the hire of Ford. “He has earned this opportunity, and we are very excited to have him guiding our team on the field.”