Wednesday, July 30, 2008

2008 Beep Baseball World Series

The 2008 Beep Baseball World Series started Monday, 7/28, in Houston. I'd never heard of this but apparently it's been around for 20 years. Beep Baseball is baseball for blind people. The ball is about the size of a softball and has a beeper inside. In the picture you can see a beep ball getting crushed. The game makes some concessions but generally follows the rules of baseball. A pitcher throws the ball and a batter hits the ball. The batter runs the bases (which also beep), the fielders field and try to make the outs. According to the Houston Chronicle article, the game is pretty competitive. The batters wear blindfolds as you can see as the game is open to the visually impaired, not just the completely blind. The blindfolds level the playing field, so to speak. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be to hit a baseball if your only clue to its whereabouts is the sound it makes. I expect that nobody is throwing 95 mph fastballs, but even still. Good luck to all the teams. You can find the the National Beep Baseball Association website here.

1 comment:

Steve Gierman said...

I've never heard of this either, but I think it's a great idea!