Long Island Ducks begin 25th season with a few twists
As the 2025 season kicks off in Islip on Friday night, the fun-filled Atlantic League ball club is celebrating what has been a highly successful (webbed) footprint stamped on the island.
'It starts with the fans. We have great fans here on Long Island who support the team like it's the highest level of the game,' manager Lew Ford, a longtime Ducks outfielder who played for the Twins in the mid-2000s and some games with the Orioles in 2012, told The Post.
'It's also great baseball. Guys that start the season here can end the season in the major leagues,' Ford added of the independent, MLB partner league that's boasted huge names such as Roger Clemens and the late Rickey Henderson in the past.
The Ducks, who have won four league championships since becoming a franchise in 2000, have also had their own Hall of Fame star power guide the team toward success.
Mets great Gary Carter managed the team in 2009, and Bud Harrelson was a co-owner and coach who was a fan favorite known for working with kids at team clinics.
'I ended up coaching with Buddy later, too,' Ford said. 'He was such a personable guy, and watching him interact with the fans and players, I loved him. He was one of the best.'
Playfully, the team displays a Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds jersey in a bar area of the stadium as a homage to the fracas between Harrelson and Rose during the 1973 NLCS.
This season, however, the Ducks are looking to the future and not past glory days.
Gary Carter (right), talking with Wally Backman, coached the Long Island Ducks in 2009.
Long Island Ducks
The team installed a new turf field with bright orange basepaths, and Ford called the move 'a huge upgrade' for 2025.
Long Island, which has consistently been a league leader in attendance thanks to fun on-field fan games in between innings and Duck mascot Quackerjack, is also bolstering its home season with several fireworks nights that typically sell out the 6,000-seat stadium.
'It's not just the fans, the players love those games, too,' Ford said. 'We bring our families on those nights. We're looking at a great year ahead.'
In boys lacrosse, Massapequa hosts Port Washington at 5 p.m. Friday, and in girls lacrosse, South Side hosts Kellenberg on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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