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Ed Ford
Ed Ford was another missing player on whom we'd pretty much abandoned hope
until suddenly getting a break that changed everything. Ford played two
games for Richmond of the (major league) American Association in 1884 and notes
identified him only as "E. L. Ford" from Richmond. Another note gave his name as
Ed, but that was basically all we had, which gave us no hope of definitively
identifying him.
Everything changed when I was reading through the correspondence of legendary
manager Harry Wright and came upon a series of letters between Wright and Ford.
When Ford requested a tryout, Wright asked for more information and Ford replied
that he would turn 22 on April 10, 1884. Unfortunately the letter was signed "E.
L. Ford," so we still didn't know the ballplayer's exact name but we finally had
the means to identify him.
Biographical Committee chairman Bill Carle then went to work and found a good
candidate named Edgar Lee Ford, who died in Richmond on June 8, 1931. He tracked
down his death certificate and, sure enough, the man was born on April 10, 1862!
Just like that we had found a player who had looked hopeless. That's one of the
reasons why we never give up!
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