Between 1974 and 1993, Ronnie Ford established himself as one of the top all-around players of his era. Originally, Ford wanted a career in professional baseball. But, when that didn’t pan out, he started playing softball in 1974 in Manatee County, FL. That year, Ford smashed 124 homers. He appeared in in his first ASA national championship the following year and batted .545 (6-for-11, one homer and five RBIs) for Copher Brothers. He finished the year with a .650 batting average, hitting 147 homers. In 1976 Ford had a spectacular season leading Warren Motors of Jacksonville, FL to the Men’s Major Slow Pitch National title. He batted .733 in the tourney and .707 for the year as the Motormen won the national title for the first time and finished the year 94-2–78 of the wins were consecutive. Ford hit 12 homers and drove in 27 runs in the national and shared MVP honors with teammate Mike Nye. Between 1977-1979 Ford played in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League and was named all-league each year. In 1977, he batted .607, smashed 85 homers and drove in 183 runs. In 1978, Ford was named league MVP and batted .645 with 80 homers and 201 RBIs. In 1979, Ford paced the league in homers (43) and RBIs (122). Ford returned to amateur softball in 1980 and hit 200 homers in 150 games for Ken Sanders Ford of Phenix City, AL. Between 1982-1985, Ford played for Elite Coatings of Gordon, GA and helped the team win 311 games while losing only 33. Ford earned All-America laurels three times (second team in 1982 (.571 batting average) and 1984 (.520 batting average) and first team in 1983 (.600 batting average) . With his daughters growing up, Ford opted to play for a local team, Vernon’s, and played Class A between 1988-1990. He was MVP of the Class A National Tourney in 1990, batting .738 and hitting nine homers to lead Vernon’s to a second consecutive national title. Softball was a demonstration sport in the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1989 and Ford was selected to play for the South team, which won a bronze medal. Between 1991-1992 Ford played Major division softball for Vernon’s before concluding his career in the Super Division in 1993. In 1992, he batted .615 (195-for-312) for Vernon’s, hitting 58 homers as it won the Major division national title. He batted .500 (11-for-22) in the nationals with seven homers and 13 runs batted in. Ford starting out playing shortstop, but later in his career moved to the outfield to take advantage of his outstanding athletism and strong throwing arm. Time and time again, he would scale outfield fences to make an outstanding catch. He was complete player who would make the spectacular play time and time again. He could run, field, hit and throw. He was named to the “SLOW PITCH NEWS” named Ford to the team of the decade for the 1970s as well as co-player of the decade with Mike Nye. When “SUPREME SOFTBALL,” named its All-Time Team for the 20th century, Ford was named at one of the outfield positions.
