Photo: John Lykowski.
Alex Gamino of the Chicago Comets takes a turn at bat at the 2024 Beep Baseball World Series in St. Charles, Missouri.
In an unusual story at the Christian Science Monitor, Jay Copp reports that “baseball for the blind” doesn’t mean listening to games on the radio but actually playing baseball in spite of a disability. The sport is called Beep Baseball. It has a ball that beeps, perhaps reminding Harry Potter fans of those airborne snitches with a mind of their own.
“Clad in a stylish red uniform with blue trim, Rich Schultz fiercely swings at the pitch and dashes toward the base. Mr. Schultz, a teacher, is one of more than 100 weekend warriors playing baseball on a recent Saturday morning at a sprawling park in a Chicago suburb. Eight teams from six states competed in the two-day tournament, in its 24th year.
“The Chicago Comets, Mr. Schultz’s team, won two and lost two. The camaraderie was more important than winning. ‘There’s a real sense of community – not only the guys on your team but the other teams,’ says Mr. Schultz. …
“The players are blind. The teams belong to the nationwide 24-team National Beep Baseball Association (NBBA), formed in 1976.
“Beep baseball is a modified version of the national pastime. The 16-inch ball has a noisemaker that beeps. A teammate, a sighted volunteer, serves as the pitcher. There are just two bases, 4-foot-tall padded cylinders. One of them will buzz when the batter strikes the ball. The batter is out if a fielder cleanly grabs the ball before the batter touches the base. Otherwise, a run is tallied.
“The games have the same varied pace of traditional baseball: stretches of inactivity, such as foul balls and swinging strikes, followed by frenetic action, with fielders scrambling and batters sprinting toward the bag. Most of the players grew up as avid baseball fans or played other sports as youths.
“ ‘He’s very competitive,’ says Christina Smerz of Mr. Schultz, her husband, who wrestled in high school, despite his lifelong blindness. ‘He gets a real sense of freedom playing sports.’ …
“Beep baseball has been on a steady upswing, according to Stephen Guerra, NBBA secretary. … The NBBA has 500 members, split about equally between players and volunteers. That’s double the number from two decades ago, according to Mr. Guerra, who is a player for the Minnesota Millers.
“Bob Costas, the Emmy-winning sports broadcaster, has promoted the World Series on both a baseball podcast and a video made for MindsEye, a nonprofit sponsoring the tournament.
“Beep baseball dates from 1964 when Charles Fairbanks, an engineer at a telephone company, designed the first practical beeping baseball. Mirroring the general societal attitude toward those with disabilities, the sport evolved from a genteel, slow-moving one, in which players were basically coddled, into a highly competitive activity. Fielders dive after balls, and batters fling themselves into the padded bases. …
“Comet Dustin Youngren remembers his debut several years ago with vivid clarity. … ‘I was so nervous. But I hit it, got to the base, and scored a run – in my first at bat,’ says Mr. Youngren. … Beep baseball is a central part of his life. ‘I love my team. I get a lot of support,’ he says. ‘I want to play forever.’ …
“Begun in 1995, the Comets practice every Saturday during the season and play a 20-game schedule. The 12-member roster has fluctuated, but it often has included players as young as teenagers and women as well. Many on the team are either in school or gainfully employed. The current roster includes a rehabilitation therapist and an IT support system engineer.
“On hand at the recent Saturday game is David Smolka, a 60-something former league MVP. Cooper, his Labrador leader dog, lies at his feet. ‘I was pretty good,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘I’d get upset with myself if I didn’t do well. I learned to talk to myself and realize it’s OK to have a bad day, just like you might have a bad day at work.’
“Mr. Smolka coached the Comets when he retired from playing. His players learned much more than how to hit or field. ‘Some had to learn how to get to practice. They had to learn bus routes, how to get equipment,’ he says. ‘My mom never pampered me. I didn’t pamper them.’ …
“Beep players understand, all too well, that off the diamond it’s not an even playing field. ‘People look down on you. They think you should be flipping burgers,’ says Mr. Youngren. ‘I want to break that line of thinking, to show people what I can do.’
“Mr. Schultz teaches young people who are blind as part of his job as a special education teacher. He uses beep baseball to illustrate the possibilities for them. Often it’s their parents who need to be reached. ‘They can have such negative expectations,’ he says.”
At the Monitor, here, you can get more details, including how the play-by-play is narrated by someone who can’t see what’s happening.
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