BEEP
BEEP
Inside the Unseen World of Baseball for the Blind
David Wanczyk
SWALLOW PRESS • OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS • ATHENS
Swallow Press
An imprint of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2018 by David Wanczyk
All rights reserved
To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Swallow Press / Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax).
Printed in the United States of America
Swallow Press / Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wanczyk, David, 1982- author.
Title: Beep : inside the unseen world of baseball for the blind / David Wanczyk.
Description: Athens, Ohio : Swallow Press, Ohio University Press, 2017. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017027939| ISBN 9780804011891 (hardback) | ISBN 9780804040822 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Baseball for people with visual disabilities. | Baseball players—Biography. | Blind athletes—Biography. | BISAC: SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / General. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / People with Disabilities.
Classification: LCC GV880.75 .W36 2017 | DDC 796.357/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017027939
For my parents
Perhaps my sun shines not as yours. The colors that glorify my world, the blue of the sky, the green of the fields, may not correspond exactly with those you delight in; but they are none the less color to me. The sun does not shine for my physical eyes, nor does the lightning flash, nor do the trees turn green in the spring; but they have not therefore ceased to exist, any more than the landscape is annihilated when you turn your back on it.
—Helen Keller
You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.
—Cal Ripken Jr.
Contents
FOUR: The Soul of Hoosier Beep Ball
FIVE: This Is Our Beeping City
SIX: An Eagle, the Buddha, a Rock, and the Girls
SEVEN: The Blind Boys of Summer
Three: The Green Fields of the Mind
SEVENTH-INNING STRETCH: The Comeback
EXTRA INNINGS: The Return of Homerun
The Champions of Beep Baseball
Illustrations
Lupe Perez, Austin Blackhawks
Rock Kuo, Taiwan Homerun
Ethan Johnston, Colorado Storm
Kevin Sibson, Austin Blackhawks
John Ross with Babe Ruth
Joe McCormick, Boston Renegades
Rob Weissman and Darnell Booker, Boston Renegades and Indy Thunder
One
The Underdogs
WARMING UP
The Kid
WHEN I CLOSED my eyes as a kid, I heard baseball.
In the summer, my dad would put me to bed in the fourth
