Darnell Glenn Ford (born May 19, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Disco Dan", he played in the Major Leagues primarily as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

from 1975 to 1985 for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. He was the starting

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

with the

1983 World Series The 1983 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1983 season. The 80th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles and the Nationa ...

Champion Orioles. In 1,153 career games, Ford had a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .270, 121

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 566

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI).

Early life

Ford went to

John C. Fremont High School John C. Fremont High School is a Title 1 co-educational public high school located in South Los Angeles, California, United States. Fremont serves several Los Angeles neighborhoods and the unincorporated community of Florence-Graham; some sec ...

in Los Angeles, California. He served in the United States Army.

Career

Ford was picked 18th overall in the 1970 Major League Baseball Draft by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. He spent four years in the minor league system for the Athletics before he was traded on October 23, 1974, to the Twins with Dennis Myers for Pat Bourque. For the next four seasons, Ford was a regular in the Twins' lineup. He hit the first home run at the renovated

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

off

Rudy May Rudolph May Jr. (July 18, 1944 – October 19, 2024) was an American professional baseball left–handed pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1965 and from 1969 to 1983 for the Los Angeles / California Angels, New York Yankees, ...

on the fifth pitch of the game after Jerry Terrell led off with a four-pitch

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

in an 11–4 loss on April 15, 1976. On August 10, 1979, Ford

hit for the cycle Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization ...

for the Angels against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. He succeeded

Lyman Bostock Lyman Wesley Bostock Jr. (November 22, 1950 – September 24, 1978) was an American professional baseball player. He played Major League Baseball for four seasons, as an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins and California Angels (1978), with a l ...

as the

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

' starting center fielder in 1978, batting .274 with 82 RBI.Chass, Murray. "Reds' Former Star to Announce His Choice Today," ''New York Times'', Tuesday, December 5, 1978.
Retrieved January 20, 2023. Ford was traded from the Twins to the

Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

for Ron Jackson and Danny Goodwin on December 4, 1978. He was tagged out by

Doug DeCinces Douglas Vernon DeCinces ( ; born August 29, 1950) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman from 1973 to 1987 for the Baltimore Orioles, California Angels and St. Louis Cardina ...

while attempting to advance to third base on a

force play In baseball, a force play or force out occurs when a runner is required to advance to a base which a player on the opposing team has already reached while in possession of the ball. There are two situations in which a force play occurs: One, a ...

that ended Game 2 of the

1979 American League Championship Series The 1979 American League Championship Series was a best-of-five series that was the semifinal on the American League side of the 1979 postseason, which pitted the East Division champion Baltimore Orioles against the West Division champion Califo ...

. Both Ford and DeCinces were exchanged for each other years later in a trade that also sent Jeff Schneider from the Orioles to the Angels and was announced on January 28, 1982. The deal was delayed when Ford requested additional compensation because the Orioles were not one of six teams listed in his contract to which he could be traded without approval. The transaction became official upon his approval two days later on January 30. The Orioles had tried to trade for Ford previously, but were unable to after the Angels originally picked him up. Early in the Orioles' 1983 championship season at Memorial Stadium on May 18, Ford ended

Richard Dotson Richard Elliott Dotson (born January 10, 1959) is an American former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1980s. He is best noted for his 22-7 performance of , helping the Chicago White Sox win the American League West Division ...

's bid for a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

with a one-out opposite-field solo

over the right-field fence in the eighth inning as the team's lone hit and the only run of the game in a 1–0 victory over the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. Ford later hit a home run off

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

Steve Carlton Steven Norman Carlton (born December 22, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher for six different teams from 1965 to 1988, most notably as a member of the Philadelph ...

for the Orioles in Game 3 of the

. Ford spent much of his four years with the Orioles on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

and was on the active roster for 302 out of a possible 647 games. He batted .187 with one home run and one RBI in 28 games during a 1985 campaign that was abbreviated when he underwent an

arthroscopy Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the j ...

on his left

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

on July 17. The knee surgery was his fourth since November 1979. He was released by the Orioles six months later on January 23, 1986."Dan Ford, who helped the Baltimore Orioles to the...," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Thursday, January 23, 1986.
Retrieved September 14, 2022.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet

Dan Ford
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

(Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Dan 1952 births Living people African-American baseball players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Los Angeles Burlington Bees players California Angels players John C. Fremont High School alumni Major League Baseball center fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Minnesota Twins players Tigres de Aragua players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Tucson Toros players United States Army soldiers 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen

Early life

Career

See also

References

Further reading

External links