Jerseyest Yankee Ever

The Yankees have never really had as "New Jersey" a player as Mike Ford. Sure, they've had stars with Garden State roots, none more prominent than Derek Jeter. But in the born and raised and educated all in Jersey category, it'll be hard to top Ford.

A Somerset County native, who attended high school in Montgomery and Princeton and then went to Princeton University, Ford checks all the boxes. His path to the majors even included spending time with the Yanks' double-A farm club in Trenton.

Ford had a nice 50 game major league debut last summer, with a dozen homers in 50 games -- the highlight, a September 1st walk off blast against the A's -- and an OPS over .900. Having pitched in his college days, he did a two-inning sting as a mop up reliever, finishing off an August 15th loss to Cleveland, quickly adding himself to the small group of Yankees who've both hit and given up home runs (the Indians tagged him twice). That's nothing to be ashamed of -- some guy who wore number-three did that as well.

With the Yankees' 1st base job not quite settled during the abbreviated spring training, if and when baseball resumes, Ford will be right in the middle of that competition.


Comments

Donna Johnson said…
How about Al Leiter, at the same age he looked like a lifetime Yankee........
April 8, 2020 at 9:23 PM
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