Dressed in an elegant red uniform with blue garnish, Rich Schultz swings fiercely on the ground and rushes towards the base. Mr. Schultz, a teacher, is one of the more than 100 warriors of the weekend playing baseball a recent Saturday morning in a sprawling park in a suburbs of Chicago. Eight teams of six states participated in the two -day tournament in its 24th year.
The Compets of Chicago, Mr. Schultz’s team, won two and lost two. Camaraderie was more important than winning. “There is a real sense of community – not only your team’s guys, but the other teams,” said Schultz. “They understand you.”
Nothing too ordinary. Except that the players are blind. The teams belong to the National-Team Beep Baseball Association (NBBA), trained in 1976.
Why we wrote this
The global series of adaptive sport beep is about to launch – offering blind players the opportunity to hit, finish and build a community while participating in the national hobby.
Beep Baseball is a modified version of the national hobby. The 16 -inch balloon has a bewindling burner. A teammate, a seeing volunteer, serves as a launcher. There are only two bases, padded cylinders 4 feet high. One of them will buzz when the striker strikes the ball. The dough is out if a defensive player strictly catch the ball before the dough touches the base. Otherwise, a race is recorded.
Games have the same varied rhythm of traditional baseball: stretching inactivity, such as coarse bullets and oscillating strikes, followed by frantic action, with fields of fields and sprintes to the bag. Most players have grown up as passionate baseball fans or have played other sports as young people.
“He is very competitive,” explains Christina Smerz of Mr. Schultz, her husband, who fought in high school, despite her living blindness. “He has a real feeling of freedom playing sports.”
The Comets will be one of the 19 teams participating in the Beep Series Beep 2025, from Sunday near St. Louis. They won him last time in 2003.
Beep Baseball was regularly increasing, According to Stephen Guerra, NBBA secretary, And this year’s World Series attract unprecedented advertising and support. The NBBA has 500 members, also divided between players and volunteers. It is double the number of two decades ago, according to Mr. Guerra, who is a minnesota Millers player.
Bob Costas, the Emmy winning sports broadcaster, promoted World Series on a baseball podcast and a video for Mindseye, a non -profit organization sparing the tournament.
“I love my team”
Beep Baseball dates from 1964 when Charles Fairbanks, engineer of a telephone company, designed the first practical baseball beep. Mintillating the general societal attitude towards those who have a handicap, sport has passed in a minor and slow way, in which players were essentially anchored, in a highly competitive activity. The fields of fields plunge after the balls and the strikers throwing themselves into the padded bases.
The desire to win is strong, just like the eagerness to do well. Count Dustin Youngren remembers her beginnings several years ago with lively clarity. “It was the third round. [Coach] Jt [Herzog] said: “Dustin, you are in it.” I was so nervous. But I hit him, I got to the base and I marked a race – in my first stick, “explains Mr. Youngren, who continues a baccalaureate in creative writing.
BIP baseball is a central part of its life. “I love my team. I receive a lot of support, ”he says. “I want to play forever.”
Sport players share a link, regardless of their uniform. Mr. Herzog, now former coach, has a seen son, Adam, who played travel baseball. His son John, who is blind, competed for the comets. “With the travel ball, you would see three guys in the same uniform walking in the hotel hallway. With Beep Ball, you would see three guys together, and they all had different uniforms,” he recalls.
Start in 1995, the comets trained every Saturday during the season and play a calendar of 20 games. The list of 12 members fluctuated, but it often included players as young as adolescents and women. Many in the team are at school or with paid employment. The current list includes a rehabilitation therapist and an engineer from the computer support system.
With the kind permission of John Lykowski
David Smolka, a former Ligue MVP. Cooper, his Labrador chief dog, is at his feet. “I was pretty good,” he said with a little laugh. “I will get angry with myself if I was not doing well. I learned to talk to myself and realize that it’s ok to have a bad day, as you might have a bad day of work. ”
Mr. Smolka led to the comets when he retired to play. His players learned much more than the way to hit or finish. “Some had to learn to go to training. They had to learn the bus routes, how to get equipment, ”he said. “My mom never pampered me. I did not pamper them. ”
This feeling underestimates the favorable aspect of BIP baseball. Like other long -standing players, Mr. Schultz considers himself a mentor. “With me, it’s like [they realize]’Whoa, I can get married. I can have children, “he explains.” I will help them network for jobs. They learn resources and the latest technologies. »»
BIP players understand, too well, that outside the diamond is not a uniform playground. “People despise you. They think you should return from burgers, ”explains Mr. Youngren. “I want to break this line of thought, show people what I can do.”
Mr. Schultz teaches young people who are blind as part of his work as a special education teacher. He uses BIP baseball to illustrate the possibilities for them. It is often their parents who must be reached. “They can have such negative expectations,” he says.
Speaking of underestimation of the capacities of those who are blind: behind marble, his phone on a tripod facing the field, is the advertiser David Benney. Ex-Comet for two decades, he broadcasts the game on Facebook. A ball struck with a comet is quickly and perfectly recovered by Stan Griffin, n ° 66 sporting his uniform of Cleveland scrappers.
“Not a great success. I cannot get it by No. 66,” Benney told his audience.
His skill to “see” the game, despite his blindness, is even more pronounced with the next striker. “It must be a tight game. I’m sure there will be arguments,” he announces correctly.
His strange game per game is fueled by competence. “I do it by sound, experience, training,” explains Mr. Benney, lawyer.
“It has become a family”
By the way, Mr. Griffin has his fan n ° 1 in the game. Like the other spectators, Chantal, his wife, knows not to applaud until the game is finished, so the buzzing base and the struck ball can be heard by strikers and championships, respectively. “I don’t even like baseball,” she timidly admitted. “She likes n ° 66”, a chirping scrapper. She also likes scrappers. “It has become a family,” she explains.
The family angle is a strong part of BIP baseball. It takes a full range of volunteers to align a team. The games require a launcher and a light recipient, two observers on the ground to call successful balls, referees, a score guard, one or two assistants, and probably a van pilot.
Ms. Smerz, a spotter, met Mr. Schultz in an Education course in Illinois State University. She too became a special education teacher. The blind people “are such a small community,” she says. “They really understand each other. Relationships are special. “
Their son, Curin, who plays travel baseball, looks next to Mr. Benney, the advertiser. His eyes fixed to the action, there is no shortage of land – or a greater meaning on BIP baseball. “He understands that the alteration of his father’s vision does not limit it,” explains his mother. “I think he also learns empathy. Kindness is important. “
