Beep Baseball

Hello, my name is Rich. This summer I took part in something called the Beep Baseball World Series. What is beep baseball? It's an adaptive version of regular baseball, but for people who are blind and visually impaired. Yes it is possible, with a baseball that beeps, bases that buzz, and a little help from some sighted volunteers to make it happen.

How Does This Work?

As I said, just like regular baseball (kinda), but the pitcher, the catcher, and batter are on the same team. Oh yeah, the pitcher and catcher can see, and the object is for the pitcher to try and make contact with his batter, rather than strike him out. This is achieved by a consistant swing from the batter and perfect placement and timing by the pitcher.

The next main difference is scoring. Once the batter makes contact with the ball either, first base or third (selected at random) will begin to buzz. The batter must run to that base. If he arrives before the ball is fielded by a defender, he is safe... or else he is out. These are the only two possible outcomes, so there is no second base, and there is no advancing home etc.

More details and rules.

There are many more rules and differences, but here are just a few.

There are four strikes and one passed ball allowed.
A home run is 170ft (with a 1lb ball). It counts as 2 runs.
The bases are 3 feet tall, foam pileons.
There are only six fielders and six batters in the lineup.
All players wear a blindfold to keep the playing field equal, since some players do have little or limited vision.
If a fly-ball is caught (only 2 ever on record) ut ciybts as 3 outs.

My Journey

My experience this summer was amazing. I traveled to Ames Iowa to compete in the World Series which involved 20 teams total from across the country. The tournament was 5 days long and consisted of a total of 9 games. Sometimes we played 3 per day. I played with a team from Denver Colorado called the Colorado Storm. We placed third in the tournament - which was exhilerating, but left a lot to be desired knowing we were so close to winning it all.

And that brings me to the competitiveness. It is intense. I know, at first it sounds like a feel good story about blind people playing baseball - which it is - however, it is not taken lightly by these players. It involves for some - months of training, pracing, traveling and fund raising to prepare. The sport itself highly physical. it involves running at full speed into that 3 foot high pileon. Diving on the ground to field a ball, and even sometimes full on collisions.

For more information

I could go on forever about it, but there is already a wealth of info online about the sport. So here are some helpful links and contact information.