Darnell Glenn Ford (born May 19, 1952) is a 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 cat ...

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) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

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

, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles 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 American League's eight charter ...

. 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 ...

with the 1983 World Series Champion Orioles. In 1,153 career games, Ford had a batting average of .270, 121

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 566

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the b ...

(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 (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

. 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 Patrick Daniel Bourque (born March 23, 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a retired United States, American professional baseball baseball player, player, a first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for three teams in a four-year MLB ca ...

. 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, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

off

Rudy May Rudolph May, Jr. (born July 18, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher in and from to for the California Angels, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Exp ...

on the fifth pitch of the game after

Jerry Terrell Jerry Wayne Terrell (born July 13, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. The former infielder from Elysian, Minnesota, attended Minnesota State University, Mankato and played in the Major Leagues for the Minnesota Twins (1973� ...

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 by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

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

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League Ba ...

for the Angels against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They 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 League ...

. On December 4, 1978, Ford was traded to the Angels for

Danny Goodwin Danny Kay Goodwin (born September 2, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and designated hitter from 1975 to 1982. He also played in the Nippon Professional Baseball ...

and

Ron Jackson Ronnie Damien Jackson (born May 9, 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a coach and a former player in Major League Baseball. He was the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they won their first World Series in 86 seasons. From 1975 thr ...

. 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 is a situation when a baserunner is compelled (or ''forced'') to vacate their starting base (time-of-pitch base) and try to advance to the next base. When a runner is forced to advance to a base, they are forced out if an o ...

that ended Game 2 of the

1979 American League Championship Series The 1979 American League Championship Series was a best-of-five series that pitted the East Division champion Baltimore Orioles against the West Division champion California Angels, who were making their first postseason appearance. The Orioles ...

. Both Ford and DeCinces were exchanged for each other years later in a trade that also sent

Jeff Schneider Jeffrey Theodore Schneider (born December 6, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player. He appeared in 11 Major League games as a relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in . A switch hitter who threw left-handed, Schneider st ...

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 a 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 championship ...

's bid for a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

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) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. Ford later hit a home run off

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

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 Philadelphi ...

for the Orioles in Game 3 of the 1983 World Series. 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 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

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 jo ...

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Dan 1952 births Living people African-American baseball players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from California 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 people 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Early life

Career

See also

References

Further reading

External links