Monday, July 4, 2016

Lew Ford - 2014 Atlantic League Player of the Year

(Top) Autographed 2015  Long Island Duck Yearbook Page
(Center) 2015 SGA Bronze "2014 Atlantic League Player of the Year" Statue
(
Left Cent) Autographed 2009 Choice Long Island Ducks Team Set Card #23(
Bot Left) Autographed 2011 Choice Long Island Ducks Team Set Card #7 
(Bot Cent) Autographed 2014 Choice Long Island Ducks Team Set Card #8 (MVP Card)
(Bot Right) Autographed 2015 Choice Long Island Ducks Team Set Card #28 
Out of Beaumont, Texas, Lew Ford spent 5 years (2003-07) in the Major Leagues with the Minnesota Twins playing in 3 Divisional Series.  Ford was American League Player of the Week August 21, 2005.

Ford fought his way back to the big league roster again on July 29, 2012, with the Baltimore Orioles, -- after 5-years of not playing in the Majors -- hitting consecutive-game home runs with the Orioles on August 27th & 28th. Ford batted .375 in the 2012 Division Series and drove in the lone RBI for Baltimore against New York Yankee pitcher C.C. Sabathia in game 5.


Ford has spent parts of 6 different seasons with the Long Island Ducks and set an Atlantic League season record with 189 hits -- and 140 games played -- in 2014 securing himself a .347 batting average for the season and the Atlantic League Player of the Year.

Through the 2014 season, Ford is the Flock's career batting average leader with a .340 lifetime Atlantic League regular season average.

Tommy Herr - All Star Second Baseman and 1982 World Champion

Autographed 2010 Lancaster Barnstormers Choice Team Set #26
2005 Lancaster Barnstormers Choice Team Set #27
As a thirteen-year MLB veteran (1979-1991) and All-Star second baseman, Tommy Herr played in three World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals (1982/85/87) winning the fall classic as a member of the 1982 World Championship Cardinals. However, it was 1985 that was actually Herr’s best year highlighted by the extremely efficient production of 110 RBI’s with only 8 home runs for the season. This led to Herr finishing 5th in the voting for National League MVP that year.

In 2005, Herr served as the inaugural manager of his hometown Lancaster Barnstormers and led them to the Atlantic League Championship the following season in 2006 against Bridgeport. Subsequently, Herr served as the bench coach under Von Hayes in 2009, then opportunistically returned once again as manager in 2010 where he witness first hand his son Aaron win the 2010 Atlantic League Player of the Year.

In three seasons, Herr finished with a 202-203 managerial record with the Barnstormers.