Vision-impaired players score with beep baseball

The last time Ted Fass saw a pitch he liked, he was 11 years old and playing baseball at summer camp. He is 61 now and still covets the challenge of putting the bat on the ball, but he no longer depends on his eyes to make contact with a pitch.

Instead, his reliance on sight has been replaced with a sharpened sense of hearing and a pitcher who makes every effort to hit his bat.

Fass, who became blind at 11, plays beep baseball, a variation on the game he has loved since childhood. In beep baseball, which is designed for the visually impaired, the balls beep, the bases buzz and Fass can't get enough of it.

"The first time I heard about it, I said, 'I'm in,' " said Fass, who lives in Rockville Centre. "I mean, I haven't played baseball since Little League. The first time we played it was in the back of a school, and it was the greatest feeling that I've had since I lost my sight. I put on my glove. I thought I was playing third base at Little League."

That was 1998, and shortly after that experience, Fass founded the Long Island Bombers, the only Long Island team registered with the National Beep Baseball Association, the sport's governing body. During the summer months, the Bombers practice once a week in Rockville Centre and play in several regional and national tournaments throughout the year. This season they finished 11th out of 20 teams in the National Beep Baseball World Series in Columbus, Ga., their 10th appearance in the series since '98.

"I just love to compete," said Fass. "My love for baseball has been since I've been a kid. I played stickball, I played baseball at summer camp and I played in Little League."

It was while playing baseball at camp that Fass first suspected something was wrong with his vision. He was swinging and missing at pitches he would normally hit. At the time, he blamed it on allergies. But as the summer progressed, he began to feel worse and eventually came home.

When he was examined by a doctor, a benign tumor "the size of an orange" was found in his nasal passages, and it was cutting off the blood supply to his optic nerve.

Over the course of the next year, Fass, who would miss the entire sixth grade, had 11 operations. When the surgeries were over, he had lost his vision.

"To be honest, for me it was a struggle more at that time to stay alive than really think about the blindness," said Fass. "I was able to push through because I think it just may be part of my personality, and also the support team that I had between my family. I had the drive, maybe I guess if you want to relate it back to baseball, I wanted to win."

A team of winners

For the Bombers, winning isn't solely defined by what the scoreboard reads. They enjoy success off the playing field too. Fass graduated from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., married his college sweetheart, Gail, helped raise their two daughters, Allison and Rachel, and runs a successful entertainment company in Rockville Centre.

Jim Hughes, who lost his vision at the age of 3 due to glaucoma, was the captain of his high school wrestling team. The Farmingdale resident is a history teacher at Farmingdale High School and is married with three children.

Braulio Thorne lost his sight at the age of 13 in his native Panama. Today, at 53, he teaches percussion instruments and is a medical translator. He commutes to games and practices from Manhattan, where he lives.

"My first base hit as a blind person, oh man, I hit that ball, I powered the ball and I stood there like, I did that, yeah!" said Thorne. "I was so happy I can't even barely describe it. I knew that this is something I want to do until I can't do it anymore."

According to Jeff Hottensen, a certified umpire with the National Beep Baseball Association, beep baseball was invented in 1964 by a telecommunications expert in Denver who was trying to encourage students at a school for the blind to compete in athletics. There are 26 teams eligible to compete in the World Series, which was first played in 1975.

The ball is the size of a softball and is fitted with a beeping device. There are two bases -- 100 feet away from home plate -- that buzz when contact is made. To level the playing field, all visually impaired players wear blindfolds because the level of sight can vary in each individual. Each team has three sighted players: a pitcher, catcher and a spotter. The pitcher pitches to his own team and must learn the arc of each batter's swing. His or her job is to pitch the ball in alignment with the batter's swing. The spotter verbally indicates to their visually impaired teammates the direction in which the ball is heading.

The Bombers have 11 players, two of whom are females. For each of them, trust is an essential part of the game. For most visually impaired people, the thought of sprinting 100 feet to a distant sound can be harrowing. So is the idea of standing in the path of a line drive. A fielder will often throw any part of the body in front of a ball to slow it down before corralling it.

"I've never had any apprehensions since I was a child because I had two older brothers who wouldn't let me have any fear," said Hughes, 44. "They said, 'If you want to do it, do it.' And that's kind of been, I guess, my mantra throughout my life. I can't go out there and be afraid. I trust the volunteers. I'd be lying if I said it's easy, and I think most people know that. Life isn't easy, but by struggling and fighting, the rewards become so much more enjoyable."

James Sciortino, 57, of Franklin Square, has been the Bombers pitcher since the team was formed. He has pitched in regular baseball and in slow- and fast-pitch softball. On this team he is equal parts pitcher, traffic cop and cheerleader, but Sciortino is also one of the most competitive players on the team.

"I take this as seriously as any sport I've ever played," he said. "Put the blindness aside and this is really competitive. When we are in a tournament, we're trying to win. I've been doing this a long time, and it always surprises me. I shouldn't say surprise . . . It impresses me. I'm totally impressed with what can be done out there. This is about abilities, not disabilities. What we strive to do is to amplify the ability side."

Inspiring their fans

Fass and the Bombers have even caught the attention of Bernie Williams, the former Yankee centerfielder and classical guitarist. Fass has promoted a number of Williams' concerts, and the pair have talked baseball on several occasions.

"My relationship with Ted has been an awesome one," said Williams. "I found him to be a very intense person, a remarkable person. The fact that he was an athlete, and still being an athlete and playing baseball, it's just a great testament to the kind of person he is. When I feel a little bad or a little down on myself, he's certainly one of the people I look to, to challenge me to do the best that I can."

Fass and the rest of the veteran Bombers have a similar impact on their younger teammates.

"I look at Jimmy and Ted, and they are so inspirational," said Samantha Ambrico, of Islip, a recent high school graduate who at 17 is one of the youngest Bombers. "All the guys really, I mean you get to know them and you learn their story and they've just all accomplished so much in their life, and it inspires me and makes me want to accomplish a lot in my life."

Though Fass admits the game is getting harder for him as he gets older, he acknowledges that the opportunity to mentor other visually impaired people is also appealing.

"I'm enjoying getting to know the young players and teaching them the game," he said. "But not only that, this is an awesome social outlet for visually impaired and blind people. You get to meet other people and see how everybody else functions. We talk to each other, and if they can learn something from me, I get the thrill out of that.

"This is not an easy thing. It's a tough thing to get through, but you can get through it. There are still a lot of things you can do. Beep baseball is just one of them."

With Chris Ware