Edward Charles Ford was born on October 28, 1948, in New York City. He was the only child of Jim and Edna Ford, who lived on 66th St. in Manhattan. When Ford was 5, his family moved to 34th Ave. in Astoria, Queens. An Irish, Italian and Polish neighborhood. His dad worked for Consolidated Edison, and his mother was a bookkeeper for a local A&P store. After he began pitching professionally, his father and a friend purchased and ran the Ivy Room, a bar in Astoria.
Ford’s father played semi-pro ball for Con-Ed. There were athletic genes from his mother’s side as well as two of her brothers played semi-pro ball in Astoria.