Wally Backman, Lew Ford return to Ducks' dugout for 2022
Long Island Ducks manager Wally Backman looks on, Monday, October 11, 2021 in Central Islip. Credit: George A Faella
Wally Backman and Lew Ford will be coming back to the Ducks in 2022.
Backman, a member of the 1986 world champion Mets, will return for a third season to manage the team he’s led to back-to-back Atlantic League Championship Series and Ford, who is the Ducks' all-time hits leader, will return as hitting coach, the Ducks announced Wednesday morning.
Ford, 45, also plans to play again, Ducks president and general manager Michael Pfaff tweeted.
The 62-year-old Backman, whom the Ducks hired before the 2019 season, is 154-106 in two seasons on the bench. He guided the team to an Atlantic League championship in 2019 and has won three of four half-season division titles. The Ducks did not play in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The Ducks will also bring back Rick Tomlin as pitching coach. Tomlin served in that role for the last three months of the 2019 season after former Met Ed Lynch left the team in late June.
Tomlin, 68, has been a pitching coach in the Yankees, Mets, Twins and Nationals organizations. He has been a minor-league pitching coordinator for the Yankees, Mets and Brewers.
Tomlin retired after the 2019 season but said in a statement that he was "itching" to return to the game.
"What a better place to return to coaching than the Ducks?" Tomlin said. "Working with pitchers and helping them in their development is what I’ve always been about. Put that with Wally, Lew, and I together again and you have a winning combination."
