Drafted by the Cardinals in the 4th round of the 1981 draft Curt Ford by 1983 he was hitting .290 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI's at A ball Springfield. As for that power display that was the last time he'd reach 20 homers in a season. Debuting with the big club on June 23, 1985 Cards' manager Whitey Herzog told Ford during the 8th inning "you're going to win the game for us." With one out in the 10th inning and a runner on second singled to right off of Cubs' pitcher Lee Smith driving in the winning run. After the game Ford said "No I wasn't nervous. I might b twice the next time. I like to hit in situations like that. Every time I walk between the lines, I want to be a hero, the big shooter." Whitey also said that Ford was " the most impressive young player we had in spring training."
Ford came back the next season and in 85 games hit .248 and stole 13 bases. Still a reserve in the pennate year of 87 he set career highs in batting-.285-home runs-3-runs scored-32. He also set career highs in WAR with a 1.4 and he also set a career high in dWar with a 1.1. However, it appeared in August he would miss the rest of the season when he broke his hand. Come post-season he was back and in the NLCS against the Giants he hit .333 in 4 games over 9 at-bats. Playing in 5 games of the World Series he was over .300 again with 2 RBI's but was caught stealing in his only attempt in the series the Cards lost to the Twins. In Game 5 he hit the game winning single off of Twins started Bert Blyleven in the sixth inning. In 1988 he dropped below the Mendoza line and in the year shown on the card was a Phillie after being traded to along with Steve Lake for outfielder Milt Thompson. Phillies general manager Lee Thomas described Ford as "the type of guy who will give manager NIck Leyva some maneuverability because he can play three outfield positions as well as first, second and third. He's also a good pinch hitter."
The year this card came out he struggled to a miserable .111 BA in 22 games and a trip back to the minors didn't help and at the end of the season was allowed to leave Philadelphia as a free agent. The next seven years were spent wandering the wilderness of minor league baseballs with stints in the minor league systems of the Philies again, the Tigers and another return to the Cards along with trips to the Independent leagues and a season with the Marlins AAA team. At the age of 36, in 1997, he played his last season of pro ball with Amarillo of the Independent Texas-Louisiana League. His career amounted to 406 games but just 743 at-bats being used as a pinch-runner and a defensive replacement.
No comments:
Post a Comment