Friday, March 28, 2008

Baseball Gives Everyone a Place

Copyrighted by Sarah D. Morris, 2008

As most major league teams are focusing on getting ready for opening day, many children play baseball. Children see baseball as fun and not as a billion-dollar business. While growing up, every American child plays some form of baseball, and baseball is still the American pastime.

Most of my readers know I am disabled, so they probably assume I never have played baseball in my life. This is wrong. I played the sport while I was in school.

First day that I went to school, I went to physical education and we played baseball. Of course, it didn’t look anything like what we see on television, but I didn’t care. We used cones for bases and a tee. Because most of us could walk poorly, we didn’t run. If the ball hit you or your wheelchair, the runner was out.

Since I was one of the most disabled students, my classroom teacher helped me to participate in the game. I could hit the ball off the tee. She pushed my wheelchair around the bases but I had to touch the bases with my hand. I can still see myself kicking and flailing my arms trying to make my wheelchair go faster.

Without this experience, I don’t think I would have become a baseball fan or a writer. Although my family watched baseball before I went to school, I wasn’t that interested because it seemed foreign and dull to me. After I played that game one time, I was destined to love baseball. While I went to a school for the disabled, they encouraged their students to become baseball fans because everyone could understand the game.

When I was mainstreamed to a regular school, I found it difficult to fit in with my able-bodied counterparts at first. After all, I was not in their classes at first. I saw baseball being played at recess, and I began talking to the boys about the Dodgers. We found a common interest, and it helped my acceptance.

Now Little League has created a section for disabled children called Challenger Baseball. While other Little Leagues want to see if they can have winners, Challenger Baseball wants its children to play. Anyone who is disabled and between the ages of five and eighteen can play.

Playing Challenger Baseball helps to develop a sense of belonging, builds confidence and self-esteem. Each player is assigned a buddy to help him or her. Having individual attention is important for the disabled to achieve their maximum potential. The Little League hopes these buddies will develop lifelong friendships and become mentors to the children.

Although we think of major league players as physically perfect, some of them aren’t. Many players have diabetes. During my lifetime, Jim Abbott became a major leaguer. He didn’t have a right hand. He threw a no-hitter. While he played, he was a symbol to many disabled that anything was possible.

Curtis Pride never was a full-time major league outfielder, but he was a symbol of courage. At birth, Pride was deaf from rubella. Unlike many deaf people, he learned how to communicate orally. During his eight-year career, he was a good reserve outfielder.

While many Dodger fans worry about who will be the starting left fielder, I am celebrating the true gift of baseball. Baseball gives everyone a sense of belonging. Regardless if the Dodgers win or lose, every person can watch or listen to the game and talk about it no matter what color they are or what abilities they have. This makes baseball special.