“Disco Dan” Ford was hailed as a potential star slugger when he was dealt to the Orioles in late January ’82. The Angels could afford to move him, as they’d just signed Reggie Jackson a day or two earlier.
He’d never slugged higher than .464 or got on base better than .338, but those were different days back then. People only seemed to notice the fact he smacked 21 HR’s and drove in 101 RBI’s 3 seasons earlier. The logic was that with Dan in the lineup, pitchers wouldn’t want to pitch around Ken Singleton or future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
Yeah, in hindsight that sounds so crazy that you’ll think I’m joking until you read the March 3, 1982 article, “In the Orioles starting lineup, Dan will do the Driving“, from the Miami News. Yes, people actually believed he’d be the powerful run producer and made a nice pun about it (Ford/driving…get it?).
History shows us what we’d expect though, that Dan didn’t drive the O’s offense. It was all hype, no hop. There were 5 hitters in Baltimore’s lineup who drove in more runs than Dan, and 4 batters smacked more HR’s. So he didn’t even do what was expected.
Maybe it was just too much pressure or something, I don’t know. By May 25, he was batting just beneath the Mendoza line, .197, with only 4 home runs. When the season was finished, he’d only raised his batting average up to .235 and added 6 more round trippers. His OBP for the year, was a horrible .279.
Meanwhile, the guy he was traded for, Doug DeCinces, posted a suave .369 OBP, hit 30 HR’s, drove in 97 runs, and slugged over .500! The trade was clearly a bust for Baltimore.
There was a bright spot in Dan’ season though, which was June 14, when Harvey’s Wallbangers came to town for a visit. In the 7th inning, Dan Ford was sent in to pinch hit with the O’s leading by a run. He put the game out of reach with a grand slam. The victory helped the birds stay ahead of the Brewers in the standings.
The next season, in ’83, Dan would return to being an above average hitter. He wasn’t great, but he was good enough to help the Orioles win the World Series. After that Championship, Dan simply faded into baseball history.
4 Random Dan Ford career stats and facts—
- Coming to the plate with nobody out, he had a .343 OBP and .320 BABIP
- Had a .510 slugging percentage against the Seattle Mariners
- He should’ve played for the White Sox, since he had a .372 OBP in Comiskey Park.
- Hit best in July: .292/.338/.477 with 24 HR’s and 102 RBI’s (158 games started)
2 Comments Add your own
I remember pulling this card as a kid and thinking it was Reggie Jackson, my favorite player at the time. I didn’t understand that cards were of players from the previous year and that Jackson was a Yankee in ’81. The disappointment was great when I read the name. Of course I pulled the Jackson later on that summer and I hated it because he was a Yankee!
It’s always humbling to read your blog, as 90 percent of the time, I don’t know the players. If we were talking about 1990 Topps, when I was seven and just getting into baseball, I’d know pretty much everybody, but you have a few years on me.
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