Zak Ford

Zak Ford is an American baseball author and workforce-development professional whose books center on players’ personal experiences. Based in Cameron Park, California, he is a former leader of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Dusty Baker–Sacramento chapter and has served on the Pacific Coast League Historical Society’s advisory committee. His writing favors oral history and individual lives over explanations built primarily around statistical analysis.

Ford’s first book, Called Up, collects accounts of reaching the major leagues. His second, Beyond the Last Inning, follows the transition away from professional playing careers. Together, the books examine the boundaries of a baseball life: the moment a long-sought opportunity arrives and the point at which a player must build a different occupation or identity.

Ford’s interest in oral history developed through family connections. His great-uncle Larry Powell played in the Pacific Coast League before the Giants and Dodgers moved west, and Ford attended reunions where he met former players. Those encounters introduced him to firsthand memories of earlier baseball generations. He began attending SABR meetings while still in high school and later spent roughly five years leading his local chapter before stepping aside in late 2024.

A lifelong Giants supporter, Ford has lived in the Sacramento area since childhood. His author biography also describes an interest in visiting national parks and a family life in Cameron Park. The professional background in workforce development provides another connection with the second book’s subject, in which former players confront the practical and personal work of beginning again.

Baseball Books

Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers: Ford gathers first-person accounts from more than one hundred players about receiving a major-league call-up and making their debut. The interviewees entered the majors between 1961 and 2018, bringing different eras and routes into the same frame. Their recollections describe anticipation, nerves, unexpected circumstances, and the people who helped them reach a moment that few professional players experience. Published in 2023.

The collection’s range includes an abrupt travel instruction for Gene Tenace, Jalal Leach’s long wait in the minors, and Bob Tewksbury’s preparation for a Yankees appearance. Ryan Rowland-Smith remembers entering a game against Ken Griffey Jr., while Mike Belfiore recalls facing David Ortiz. These different situations show that the debut was not a uniform ceremony: players reached it at different ages, with different expectations and different amounts of preparation.

Beyond the Last Inning: Life and Careers After Playing Professional Baseball: Ford presents forty-nine first-person stories about life after professional baseball. Former major and minor leaguers describe leaving a career that had shaped them since childhood and finding work, purpose, and identity elsewhere. Some remained within the sport while others entered unrelated occupations, revealing how varied and difficult the transition can be even for people who achieved considerable success as players. Published in 2026.

The book includes players whose hopes ended without a major-league appearance, making the subject broader than the retirement of well-known stars. Ford also follows people who changed roles inside baseball and others who needed an entirely different working life. The central change is therefore larger than moving between employers: a skill and identity developed over many years must be reconsidered when playing opportunities disappear, often before the person feels ready.