LI Ducks Name Longtime Player/Coach Lew Ford as New Skipper

The Long Island Ducks of Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) are promoting a familiar face to replace former manager Wally Backman. Today, the team announced on its website that Lew Ford has been named the seventh manager in franchise history.

Ford, who has spent a total of 13 years with the Ducks, has severed as a player/coach for the last nine seasons.

He said he is thrilled and chomping at the bit to get right to work on building a championship caliber club.

“I am honored and excited to accept the manager position for the Ducks,” Ford said on LIDucks.com. “I look forward to working with our exceptional staff and players to bring home a championship to Long Island.”

Ford has the most hits in team history with 1,036, placing him third all-time in the Atlantic League. In addition to that, he ranks second all-time among Long Island players in batting average (.318, min. 1,000 at bats), games played (877), runs batted in (511), runs scored (549), doubles (227) and total bases (1,541).

Furthermore, Ford is no stranger to winning titles, as he was a part of ALPB championship clubs in 2012, 2013 and 2019. Also, the 47-year-old helped lead the Ducks to eight division championships and 11 postseason appearances as a player/coach. 

In 2014. for his outstanding performance, the ALPB named the Central Islip, N.Y., resident as its Player of the Year, establishing single-season league marks for hits (189) and contests played (140) that campaign.

Before starting his time with the Ducks, Ford suited up for two different MLB teams–the Minesota Twins and Balitmore Orioles–across parts of seven campaigns. In 519 big league tilts, Ford totaled a .268 batting average along with 35 home runs, 176 RBI, 235 runs, 425 hits and a .744 OPS.

A longstanding presence at Fairfield Properties, Ducks Founder/CEO/Owner Frank Boulton could not be happier with the franchise’s new selection as skipper, going as far saying he has more that earned his stripes.

“Lew has been an outstanding representative of the Ducks organization over the past 13 years,” Boulton said. “He has earned this opportunity, and we are very excited to have him guiding our team on the field.”

— Jerry Del Priore

Photo: Long Island Ducks