Jon Lewis “Lew” Ford, son of Blanco ISD Superintendent, Dr. Jon Buck Ford, signed with the Baltimore Orioles. The organization sent Lew to their Triple-A Norfolk Tides minor league team for a brief time before placing him on their Oriole line-up on July 29, 2012. This is the Ford’s first time on a major league baseball line-up since 2007.

Ford began his baseball career with T-ball and Little League in Port Neches, Texas. He is a 1994 graduate of Port Neches-Groves High School. In 1998, Ford was named first team All-American at Dallas Baptist University. After graduating in 1999, Ford was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. He played on the Red Sox Single-A team, the Augusta Green jackets, all of the 2000 posting outstanding stats. The Red Sox traded him to the Minnesota Twins in September of 2000. For the next two years Ford played on the minor league team for the Twins. He debuted with the Minnesota Twins on May 29, 2003, and played there until October of 2007. Lew spent the next five years playing in Japan, Long Island, and Mexico. In March 2011, Ford signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Ford intended to finish his baseball career with the Ducks, until the call came from the Orioles.

In the very fickle business of professional sports, nothing is guaranteed, but Ford started this return to the major leagues with a “bang.” Fifteen days after Lew’s 36th birthday, he slugged a homerun agains the Chicago White Sox on August 27th. Adding icing on the cake, he belted another homer against the Sox the very next day, August 28, 2012. Playing right field and left field for the Orioles, Ford has made some outstanding plays. Hopefully, he will continue to hold a spot with Baltimore because the Orioles secured a winning season for the first time in 15 years on Monday, September 17th with their win over the Mariners with October playoffs looming, Ford could enjoy even more bonus time in Baltimore.