By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS they began their trek towards playing professional baseball in the United States in 1967, Eddie Ford recalled how he spent a lot of time with the late Edison Armbrister.

Last week, Armbrister passed away at the age of 72. As one of six Bahamians to play in the Major League, Armbrister was the only Bahamian to win a World Series title with the Cincinnati Reds, better known as the Big Red Machine.

He played from 1973 to 1977 as the Reds claimed three National League pennants and two World Series titles (1975, 1976).

Signed by the Houston Astros at the time, Ford sand he and Armbrister both went to Cocoa, Florida for the A league, along with Roy Bethel, Edmundo Moxey, Fred ‘Chicken’ Taylor and Jayson ‘Pegs’ Moxey.

“Ed was playing left field, but eventually he got hurt and they inserted me into the line-up,” Ford said. “When Ed came back, they had to put him in centre field.”

The duo produced some fond memories, according to Ford.

“When we shared the room in Cocoa Beach, it was very far from the ball park and either hiked a ride or walked to the ball park,” Ford remembered.

“The funny thing was they had a train that passed through there every day around 1:30pm and because they had so many of them, it took about a hour before anyone could cross the tracks.”

Eventually they got a car that they rented, but it broke down and they left it on the side of the road. Unfortunately, he said they never went back to remove it.

“We lived like brothers,” said Ford, who also took the opportunity to do the cooking. “Whenever we had money, we spent it on each other. We were very close.”

The following year, they returned to Cocoa Beach, but that was where they began to make the separation from one league to the next.

“We had a good relationship. We used to sit around and talk about our experiences, me, Ed, Jayson and Chicken Taylor,” Ford said. “We did a lot of things together.”

Ford, who unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to advance to the Major League, as did Armbrister with the Cincinnati Reds, reached Double A.

Without going into all of the details as to why he didn’t move on, Ford said he returned home and he watched as Armbrister went on to shine for the Reds, producing a controversial bunt in game three of the 1975 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

While at home, Ford has participated in a number of sports, including golf, his new favourite pastime. He is listed as the only Bahamian to score 100 points in a basketball game.

Additionally, he is one of the country’s certified baseball and softball umpires.