Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:00:37 Good evening. This is disability and progress. Thank you for joining us. We bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of the show. Thanks so much for tuning in and thank you to Matt and Annie, who are the engineers of this episode. Also, Charlene doll is my research woman. Thank you to her. Um, if you want to be on my email list, I want to remind you. You can email
[email protected]. Also it is pledge drive tonight. So please feel free to join us and support us. And you can do that by going to KFC AI dot O R G tonight's topic. Beep baseball, joining us to talk about that is a handful of people. We have Janet Leonard. Janet is a long time sighted volunteers, spotter and current tournament committee member. Good evening, Janet.
Speaker 0 00:01:40 Hi, Sam.
Speaker 1 00:01:42 And also joining us is Greg <inaudible>. Greg is a long time player and hall of fame member inductee in 2016. Good evening, Greg. Oh, Sam, how are you? Good and last, but certainly not least is Jared Woodard. Jared is a many time championship pitcher and PR director and second vice president of the national beep baseball association. Good evening, Jared. Hi Sam. Thanks for having us. Hopefully I got all those little titles, correct? Uh, I do have one question, Jared, how many times championship?
Speaker 0 00:02:21 Mmm.
Speaker 1 00:02:24 Think about it. Geez. Well, congratulations on that one. Um, thank you all for agreeing to join me. I I've always, I have had one experience of beep baseball, um, and, but I hear a lot about it and of course I have been there once or twice. Um, so I thought it would be good for people to understand a little bit more about the game, but before we get into that, can you each take turns and please give us just a little bit of history about you. Like how got involved,
Speaker 2 00:03:01 Let's start with you, Jared. Yeah, so I got involved with beep baseball because it's really been a family tradition. Um, growing up, my dad has been playing, you know, for over 30 years now. And so him and then several of my uncles and cousins and my grandparents, um, always volunteered for baseball. So it was just kind of always a summer vacation for us where we got to go enjoy the sport. And, and so that's really how I got involved is that I was really just born into it. Greg, how about you found out about the baseball training class? Um, with my, uh, social security administration. Um, I went down for training and I was introduced to it by somebody in the Dallas area that was 38 years ago. And I'm still playing very happy. I love the game,
Speaker 1 00:04:02 Janet, your turn.
Speaker 2 00:04:05 I, uh, came to be baseball in 1986. Nope. Yes, 1986. And I gosh, uh, through a family member at the time I was living in Denver, Colorado, and Denver was one of those early teams, not an original, but a very, very early team. And I started volunteering for them as a sighted spotter and have been to every world series. Since again, it's a, it's a wonderful opportunity every summer to travel and, uh, see friends in the sport.
Speaker 1 00:04:44 I'd like someone to give me some history of how big baseball got its start. Anybody
Speaker 2 00:04:52 I can give you a, a start. Uh, it was developed by a telephone pioneer by the name of Charlie fair banks in Colorado. Um, back around to starting in 1964. Uh, the first formal team games were played in 1975, uh, in Minneapolis. And, uh, very shortly thereafter st. Paul, uh, he developed the beep baseball for educational and recreational purposes. Um, the game looked a little different than, than it does now, but basically the ball is the same. It's, it's a 16 ounce softball with the sound chamber in it that it emits a beep. Uh, and the basis back then were more traffic cone like for children. But as adults tend to do, they saw a good thing and said, huh, we need to modify this game of an audio ball for blind and turn it into a recreational sport for adults. So it took off, um, and it came through Minneapolis and st. Paul and Chicago, but the, uh, telephone pioneers were very pivotal in the startup of it. And they were retirees from the telephone company. Uh, well, not always retirees, but, uh, uh, employees and retirees. And they have been very supportive of the game ever since, including continuing to manufacture the beat baseballs to support the sport. And they do that out of a volunteer organization in Denver, Colorado. Excellent. So now I want somebody to describe like what baseball is, how do you play it
Speaker 3 00:06:54 Oil? Um, I'll try to describe as best I can beat baseball is a game with naturally two teams and you have six players on each team. You have six on defense and the batter is, uh, has the pitcher and the catcher, which is on his side is on the offensive side. So the pitcher is trying to let the batter hit the ball, and there's a, uh, uh, a sequence to it where he says ready that pitch. And once that happens, the batter swings the bat and the pitcher tries to, um, get the ball to where the bat is coming through. Uh, so the batter can hit it once he hits it, it has to travel 40 feet, uh, and he has to run to a base. There's two bases only. There's not three, there's a first base and a third base once. And the base is about Oh, 48, 50 inches high.
Speaker 3 00:08:07 And he tries to get there before any of the fielders, uh, picks up the ball, uh, if he gets to either of those bases, which is turned on, um, it's, if it gets to the base, it's a run. And if the base, I'm sorry, what is the field or picks up the ball prior to the runner, getting to the base. It's an hour, there are three outs to an inning and a six innings in a game. Um, if, uh, the Jared of Janet could add to that, I, you can do that. Yeah, I think you, I think you've nailed it home. Pretty good. Um, and you know, as Janet mentioned at the beginning, I guess, about
Speaker 2 00:08:56 DNA, um, she is a spotter and so, you know, the spotters are in the field. And so they do call the zone to where the ball is, the tip. Um, but the goal is basically just to get the ball off the ground, away from the body before the runner gets to the base.
Speaker 0 00:09:13 And what kind of sound do the basis make?
Speaker 2 00:09:19 So the basics are a buzz and the ball is a beat. So, um, you can differentiate the two.
Speaker 0 00:09:30 And is the bar a constant beep or is it have intervals?
Speaker 2 00:09:38 Yeah, it is intervals, but it always beeps until you put a pin in it. The base is they're activated by a base operator. Who's seated behind home plate with the scorekeeper, and that's a random, the batter. Doesn't know if they'll be running to first or third base. Uh, and it is activated at this on contact with the ball. A good base runner can run. And between four and five seconds, the 100 feet down to the base, uh, these guys can fly and that's not a lot of times they he'll hit well hit ball. Uh, as Greg mentioned, it has to go with a minimum of 40 feet, but many, many hits go anywhere from 80 to 170 feet easily. The spotter is allowed one number one time, one through six, but only that one number one time, uh, fielders can talk to each other as needed and they often do, uh, to assist in the, making the play. But there's a lot of on the ground body blocking, um, people aren't catching fly balls. That's a rarity in our sport. The base itself I might add is about, uh, it looks like a football, uh, tackling dummy thing. What do you call those eight inch round four foot high cylinder, uh, implant, and then a one by one foot foam cube that they run for and tackle, uh, in an effort to beat the field. They're fielding the ball.
Speaker 0 00:11:23 Let's talk about a body block. What is that? And what instance would you do that in?
Speaker 2 00:11:29 Yep. Well, the body block is basically when the ball is hit and the spotter yells out a number. The field goes to the field there, or fielders go to that area where the ball is going, and you're not picking up the ball like a regular infield or you're, you're diving for it. And you're blocking with your body
Speaker 3 00:11:54 As best you can. Um, and you know, you stretch out and try to stop the ball from getting past you. And once you do that, you can pick it up and hopefully get that runner out. Um, so it's, it's not, you know, bending over and scooping the ball like, you know, regular infielders do. This is the more area you can lay out on the ground, the better chance it is to block that ball. How do you have, how do you avoid collisions? If you call more than one player and you both can't see, well, the spotter only calls one number at one number, the fielder fielders in that area, uh, a place to run to, and they run laterally. They're supposed to run laterally side to side and not necessarily necessarily front and back. You go back too far or you go up too far and you might collide, but usually the really good teams have practiced a long time with each other. So they know, uh, how far to run and it's from side to side and how far back or forward they can go also.
Speaker 3 00:13:16 Yeah. Oh, go ahead, Janet. No, go ahead. I was just gonna say, to go along with, with what Greg said, um, there's certainly a lot of time that's put in as far as practice in order to, um, avoid those types of collisions in the field. Uh, and, and you kind of do, um, you're listening to the ball, but for most players you can kind of hear footsteps in the grass to know that somebody is getting close. Um, and if there's something that is going to be an obvious collision, then spotters, um, like Janet or even umpires or even pictures, um, would of course, you know, yell, stop in order to prevent, um, a noticeable collision from happening.
Speaker 2 00:14:01 Alright, that's the real, the real bottom line that people want to know about baseball though, is how do blind people hit a baseball? And that is the art that Jared has perfected, which is done with an audible cadence. And I'll let him expand on that, but he's only 20 feet from the batter who is again on his team. They are not in the opposition, the pitcher and the catcher sided working with the batter with a four and one strike count, four strikes and one pass ball. And he uses an audible cadence for his batter. If you want to expand on that, Jared. Yeah, sure. So,
Speaker 3 00:14:45 Um, like she mentioned, um, there's an audible cadence, and so, uh, myself, I say set,
Speaker 4 00:14:52 Ready pitch. Then it's like a timing mechanism for them. Um, a rhythm for them to know when to swing and expect the ball to be there. Others pitchers say, I'm ready, set ball are set, ready ball. Um, but, uh, the really the big thing is that you have to say, um, some form of ready in some form of pitch in order, not just for your, your head or to know when the ball is coming, but also for the defense to know. Um, so she also mentioned that you're, you're on the same team. So in baseball, um, kind of the goal is you want to, the, the ball is coming in and you have to take the bat and put it where that ball is anticipated to be and beat baseball. It's a little different in that. Um, really players trained to make their swing as consistent as possible.
Speaker 4 00:15:41 And so they want to swinging in the exact same spot every time. And so then the pitcher basically is the one that would pitch to that spot. And, and the timing is kind of, um, between the pitcher and the hitter at that point. And, uh, it's, it's kind of like a, a good flow in a relationship that you create. Um, and it does take a lot of practice just as, as defense does and everything else that we have talked about, um, a lot of hours are put into to be able to get that rhythm down with your header. Um,
Speaker 1 00:16:16 You get that beep baseball yet? Maybe not. Okay. Okay. So I would like to, if it's possible here, what the beep baseball sounds like, so people can hear that.
Speaker 4 00:16:32 Sure. It's gonna sound like a Labrador at the moment, but here we go. I'll try not to have it too loud.
Speaker 1 00:16:46 Oh, and so it, does that be BBB? Do you ever, yeah, I was wondering, like, I would be worried that you kind of miss you get between the beeps, you know, when it's coming towards you, but I suppose it's it beeps fast enough that you should be able to line your bat up to the sound where it's coming from. If you're, if you're going by sound
Speaker 4 00:17:12 The batter, isn't listening to the ball, the batter's listening to Jared it's strictly audio. I actually most teams practice with dead balls.
Speaker 1 00:17:25 Ah, okay. And, um, uh, go ahead.
Speaker 4 00:17:31 Well, because they're expensive, even though they're made and sold, it costs a beeping baseball can cost $35. These guys can muscle the ball and a well clocked ball that goes to 120, 150 feet. Sometimes the electronics
Speaker 5 00:17:50 In the ball sale. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:17:52 Understand the place now, Jared, were you able to pull up a sound of a bass?
Speaker 5 00:18:00 I was not able to define a good clip of that yet.
Speaker 1 00:18:04 Okay. That's fine. Um, besides, okay, so I just want an understanding, but we've got audible, um, baseballs audible basis. Um, and, and there's no second base. That's a difference. Right. So what are some of the, I want to talk about the differences between the quote baseball game and this, so you have the audible stuff you take out the second base, right?
Speaker 5 00:18:32 Yeah. Yeah. And so you, um, I think one of the bigger ones, uh, like Greg had mentioned is that, uh, you pitch to your own team. Um, and then also, uh, another big one is that in baseball, there's home runs, right? You, you hit it over the fence, there's a fence in the outfield. Um, well, our home run line is at one 70. Um, rarely do they're, they're pretty rare when you see them, but, um, in baseball, if it goes in the stands or past that fence, you can't make a play on it and beat baseball that bowl. I mean, that ball can roll well out past 170 feet and, and you can still play that ball and put somebody out.
Speaker 1 00:19:16 Ah, okay. Any other, um, things?
Speaker 5 00:19:22 Well, the game is six innings and the pitch count is four ball. I'm sorry, force four strikes and one loss.
Speaker 1 00:19:34 And it would usually be three,
Speaker 5 00:19:38 Uh, well, three strikes or balls, but we don't have walks.
Speaker 1 00:19:45 So let's talk about who is eligible to play. Beep baseball. Do you have to be visually impaired? Can you be cited? How does this work?
Speaker 5 00:19:59 Yeah, so you, um, you do have to be, um, considered, uh, visually impaired. In other words, you know, the, the, um, kind of universal definition of 20 over 70 or less than, um, 30 degrees, uh, of your visual field, um, and your best, uh, eye with correction. So, um, there is that, so basically visually impaired, but kind of another unique thing about beat baseball as far as, um, a sport for people who are blind and visually impaired, is that such as Janet and myself, you do play alongside, um, sided individuals. So, um, the pitchers and the spotters, you know, in the catcher, we're all kind of involved in the, of beat baseball,
Speaker 2 00:20:48 Um, where we're most other ones it's typically where like go ball. There's, there's a few people who are blind and visually impaired that are the only ones that play in the game. Uh, they don't have, you know, cited players in the game. And so I think that's one of the unique things about baseball
Speaker 1 00:21:07 Well, and global, they have their you're blindfolded. Anyway, you can have partial vision, but you're blindfolded. Um,
Speaker 2 00:21:14 All of the fielders and the batter are blindfolded though, to equalize. Uh, so when you're on the field of play as a defensive player, you're blindfolded, regardless of your level of vision,
Speaker 1 00:21:28 Is there a rule about what kind of blindfold you must wear?
Speaker 2 00:21:33 Yes. The league has about four or five different models of eye shades that they've approved and they, they stand kind of a range cause people have personal preferences. Um, but they're basically a large hovering either cloth or cardboard dish. And we also authorize have authorized the ski Goggle, um, covering that people are familiar with if they play goal ball.
Speaker 1 00:22:07 So how many, um, how many teams are there in beat baseball?
Speaker 2 00:22:19 That's kind of a tricky question to answer. Um, I think that we actually had somewhere around like 32 or so, uh, registered with the NBB a, um, as a, a team. However, we typically have, I would say what in between 16 and 22 or so teams show up to the world series. Um, but there, I believe there's about either four or six teams in Taiwan that, that play regularly beat baseball, but they only send one or two over to the world series. Um, and there's several in the United States that might come to the world series one year, might not make it the other year. Um, you know, so it really kind of varies on where the world series is and how the funding's been going. Okay. We also, we also had teams come in from Canada and from the Dominican Republic. Uh, and I think that's between Taiwan, Canada, and Dominican Republic. I think those are the only three other teams outside the United States.
Speaker 1 00:23:31 And so, okay. Let's talk about tournaments now. Don't count this year, cause this is a weird year clearly, but in an quote normal year, how many tournaments do you generally have?
Speaker 2 00:23:50 Well, there are regional tournaments. They're usually between Oh three and six, depending on who's willing to host. Um, the world series is held once a year, either the last week of July or the first week of August and is awarded two years in advance. Um, so people know in advance where it's going to be this year. It would have been in Ames, Iowa. Uh, we know that next year will be in Wichita, Kansas. And we also happen to know that the following year 2022 will be in Beaumont, Texas, uh, but regional tournaments, uh, you know, vary from year to year. There's two in Texas. There's a long running one in Jareds team's hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana longstanding tournament in Chicago, Illinois. And then there'll be, um, miscellaneous tournaments last year, there were 22 teams at the world series or excuse me, 18 the year before it was 22. Um, and as Jared indicated, often there are more teams registered early in the spring and actually come to the series. It is an all volunteer endeavor and very expensive as we know to travel, uh, and bring a team and, and support staff.
Speaker 1 00:25:24 You talk about regional tournaments. What does that mean? Exactly. And who can go to the regional, can anybody go to the regional tournaments who are signed up as a team, or I should say, can any team go to any of the regional tournaments?
Speaker 2 00:25:40 Anything can go to the world series. Actually, we don't have an elimination, our regional tournament, they're not elimination tournaments in preparation for the world series. And so a regional can, can set its own enrollment, you know, whether it's, you know, a double header or 14 tournament or six or eight or whatever it can sustain.
Speaker 1 00:26:09 And so then the standings of where each team lies would depend on how they did in the world series.
Speaker 2 00:26:21 That's correct. Yeah. In a way.
Speaker 1 00:26:25 Sorry. Did I ask something too difficult?
Speaker 2 00:26:28 No, that's probably a political hot potato.
Speaker 1 00:26:31 Oh, excellent. I love it.
Speaker 2 00:26:38 So actually I'm in the 2019 series was the first year that we, um, tried something different. Cause what you just said is typically how it's been. Um, for instance, you know, if, if the New Jersey Titans got a six at the world series in 2019, then that's the seed that they would have coming into 2020. Um, however, we changed it to where, uh, basically that is taken into consideration, but so is any off season, um, acquisitions that you have made from, you know, players from another team or well known players, um, as well as losing any players and then also, um, performance in the regional tournaments. So, uh, it's kind of like a, yeah, it's a, it's a committee of people who consider all of those factors.
Speaker 1 00:27:31 Why would they do that? Because this is like, wouldn't this be considered its own tournament. I mean, it's kind of like you're practicing, I'm sure. I don't know how they, what they consider the regionals. I only know it from playing other how some other blind sports do it, but then it's kind of sounds like all bets are off as far as like, if you place a certain place that you are actually that place in the, in the nationals.
Speaker 2 00:28:03 Well, the ranking committee, um, actually consists of a representative from every team in the, in the league, every team and it's a work in progress, but the, they vote on it. Um, you know, they've placed, they submit their rankings by voting on, on it and they have to justify it so that it doesn't simply become any sort of just popularity contest as opposed to a skills level, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 00:28:36 Um, so do you have just one national tournament a year? Correct. Okay. And how do you decide where that tournament will be held?
Speaker 2 00:28:50 Uh, the tournament committee, uh, does entertain the bids from cities, uh, as I said, two years in advance, but actually they, they work sometimes three and four years in advance and going to site visits for a city who has read a request for proposals and the fields they meet our needs. We need a minimum amount of all grass, fields, soccer being our primary preference. Uh, and at one venue is a primary preference, but as we've grown, sometimes it's hard. Your hard put to find a city with, uh, you know, 10 to 12, 14 soccer fields, but we've hosted, you know, in duel sites. Uh, two years ago we were actually in three different sites around Auclair Wisconsin. Um, but the committee sends two to three people on a site visit sometimes for, um, uh, members of the tournament committee to evaluate it. And they have a checklist and they're looking at hotel accommodations, pricing, field conditions.
Speaker 2 00:30:12 Our needs of course are a little mysterious to people not familiar with the sport and our primary one besides the quality of the grass is the lack of noise. We don't want to be near an interstate. We don't want to be near an airport. We don't want to be near a train tracks or, uh, dump trucks on the highway. Uh, we've had a, quite a canal barges on that canal and upstate New York. We've had an assortment of noise, uh, issues that you know, is up to the committee to sort it out. We take the final three sites and evaluated and currently present the recommendations to the board at the week of the world series, uh, for voting on a selection for a site two years in advanced,
Speaker 1 00:31:07 We were just kinda talking a little bit about tournaments and whatnot. And Jared, you thought you found an acceptable clip maybe for, to hear what the bass sounds like. Let's see. Let's see.
Speaker 2 00:31:20 Yeah. So if you listen closely, you can, you can actually hear, um, a pitcher's cadence as well as the hit and the bass.
Speaker 1 00:31:37 Yeah, so I did. So the, the ball has that BPPP and the, the, um, the base has a study pitch pitch, so you don't hear the brakes, um, in that. Okay, cool. Well, thank you for that. So I want to talk a little bit about how beep baseball, the association has, obviously must have a board, you're talking about a board, how does the board work? What are they responsible for and how many people are on it,
Speaker 2 00:32:14 Anybody. So it's a 16 member board. You can take it from there, Darren. So I'm kind of, uh, really the, one of the sole responsibilities of the board. Um, and the tournament committee, uh, is kind of really put on the world series each, um,
Speaker 4 00:32:40 You know, to make sure that, uh, there is a world series that takes place and that, uh, our teams can come and participate in it. And so, um, I kind of feel like that's the, the number one, um, you know, purpose of the, the national beat baseball associates, I mean, association and the board. Um, but then it's also just to, um, perform, uh, you know, kind of outreach, uh, to spread knowledge about the sport of beat baseball, um, and to try to allow the opportunity for, um, as many people who are blind and visually impaired as, as possible to play the game of baseball. And so, um, as Janet mentioned, it's, it's a 16 person board. And so as second vice president, um, it's kind of attached to the public relations committee. And so the PR director, and then our first vice president is kind of attached to the tournament committee and that they're the tournament director.
Speaker 4 00:33:44 Um, and so then of course you have, uh, the treasurer who is, is kind of, um, over the fundraising portion and stuff like that. And then the secretary with, with keeping our membership updated, uh, and then several board members at large that serve on different committees. Um, Janet had mentioned, uh, mentioned the ranking committee for the seeding of the world series, but there's also, um, diversity committees, uh, the wool committee for the women of our league. Um, there is the engaged, like membership engagement to try to work on ways to engage membership when we're at the world series. Um, and so several different committees that that board members might head up, um, and participate on in order to, uh, try to grow the sport of beat baseball.
Speaker 4 00:34:34 Go ahead. Oh, I didn't want to overlook, uh, I chair the integrity committee, which is near and dear to our hearts, otherwise known as the anti cheating committee. But I did want to reiterate that if people are interested in seeing where teams are located throughout the country, if they go to our website, which is N B B a.org for national beep baseball association, uh, they can, uh, anywhere teams are, and there's a teen contact and email list. And for each of those teams, um, and they can also explore Facebook and so on, depending on what teams offer.
Speaker 6 00:35:24 Okay. So people cheating
Speaker 4 00:35:28 The baseball, huh. But you must have had you feel like you need to have an integrity
Speaker 1 00:35:38 Committee to make sure that rules are followed
Speaker 4 00:35:42 Well as a former chair of the rules committee. Yes. We're always trying to evolve rules with the game because it is an evolving game. I'd like, I'm very proud to say that defenses have gotten far better over the last 20 years. Um, the sophistication and level on defense particularly has improved often, so always seems to improve, but, um, you know, it's, it's just issues that are a concern and the board is tasked with, you know, staying up to date, keeping the rules current and looking at issues such as the blindfold right now is what the integrity committee is, is examining. Um, and we take, you know, learn lessons from other sports that has gold ball, uh, on how to handle various issues.
Speaker 1 00:36:39 Do you have to actually be playing in the sport in order to be on the board?
Speaker 4 00:36:47 I believe you do have to be a member of the national beat baseball association. Um, I don't think that you necessarily have to be an active player. Um, there are some, some former players who ended up just, uh, volunteering on committees and such, uh, as long as they keep their NBA membership up. Um, and you know, like Janet mentioned, uh, with, you know, falling along and, and taking lessons from some gold ball, but also, you know, cheating is kind of present in pretty much every sport, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:37:22 Unfortunately, sadly,
Speaker 4 00:37:23 Unfortunately, so, yeah. And, and another thing about keeping the rules up to date is, is not just so much about, is the blindfold, um, enough to, you know, keep people from cheating, but also, uh, one, one big thing over the last, I don't know, uh, 13 years, I guess it's been now well, um, is, is the safety of the bats basically. Cause, cause our ball is anywhere from 14 to 16 ounces and you can't just hit that with any old bat. And so just making sure that, that, uh, teams, uh, and players are using bats that are safe to hit our, to hit our ball with
Speaker 1 00:38:03 Without mentioning, um, amounts, because we're I ask that you don't do that, but, um, do people need to pay in order to play in beat baseball?
Speaker 0 00:38:16 <inaudible>
Speaker 4 00:38:18 Yeah, go ahead, Janet. Well, they're modest amounts of your team registration is due in the spring with a roster and individual amount. Um, but it is all volunteer and team does their own fundraising to cover that registration fee and put a couple of hundred dollars and the individual fees, um, and different teams do fundraisings in different ways, but we all lean on our volunteer support, whether it's lions, clubs, telephone, pioneers, rotary, um, city parks and recs departments, whatever it is. Um, it's, it's critical that we have volunteers to help with the, um, on field and off field because there's travel and expenses. It's an expensive sport in some ways. Then on the other hand, uh, there are very few team sports for the visually impaired, relatively speaking to the, um, so I'm, I'm very glad that we can offer it and teams do find ways to fundraise.
Speaker 1 00:39:35 Do you, um, what happens if you want to get on a team or if you have people, if you have found a team of people who want to get in and create a new team in the sport, and there's already a team in your state, how does that work?
Speaker 4 00:39:53 So we, we do have kind of a, an outreach committee. Um, and, and one thing that I'll say about beat baseball and the national beat baseball association right now is that if there is anyone, um, you know, that is interested in starting a team, uh, 90% of this league, uh, the, the people that have expertise on how to do so are more than willing to offer up that, you know, the knowledge they have on it. Um, but you know, individual teams have their own, uh, guidelines as far as getting on a team. Uh, and then if there's a team that is interested in, um, you know, learning what it takes to join the NBA and what it takes to develop a team, you can always just send an email to
[email protected]. Um, and you know, our outreach committee will get with them and say, Hey, you know, here's the, the, the list of items that you're going to need the time that it's really going to take and the effort that it's going to take to make a team successful.
Speaker 1 00:40:56 So let's say we're in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Um, can you have two or three teams that play in the regional tournaments come from that city?
Speaker 4 00:41:09 Absolutely. Yeah. Uh, Indianapolis has, we have two teams here. Um, Chicago has had that at different points and so, um, that's, that's certainly possible. Um, and in that situation, what we would actually be asked to do is, is get you in touch with the, the, the Minnesota Miller's, which are there in Minnesota. And I'm sure that they
Speaker 3 00:41:34 Would be willing to guide whoever it is on the path of, you know, what it takes to successfully form a team.
Speaker 1 00:41:43 Um, I want to talk to you a moment. Um, you were inducted into the hall of fame, you're an inductee in 2016 in regards to be baseball. How, how did that work and what does that mean? And what was that like?
Speaker 3 00:42:04 Well, it was it's I guess, based on a lot of statistics, um, I, I made some, uh, defensive, uh, all star teams and I was an MVP, uh, defensive player in the world series. And I made one amazingly enough for me. I made one, uh, uh, all star team on offense. The satisfying thing about that was what my son was pitching to me, uh, made it more, uh, notable to me and I, I am a person who doesn't even think about statistics. The only thing I think about is whether the team wins or loses. I don't care about any individual statistics. I do receive them. I do have them and I'm proud of them, but, uh, I, I don't, I couldn't even tell you what they were for. I won a regionals regional awards. And, uh, so when I went to the 2016, uh, world series, I never expected to be a water awarded the, a hall of fame. Uh, it was a big surprise to me, so I know it was very satisfying. And so
Speaker 1 00:43:37 Is this, where, where does this reside, I mean, is, does somebody each year get picked from baseball or how does that work?
Speaker 3 00:43:49 Yeah, um, at least one person gets awarded the hall of fame. Um, and, um, sometimes there's more than more than one person. Uh, and I honestly couldn't tell you, uh, how many there are each year, but, uh, it goes from at least, I think one, two, I think Janet would know this maybe two or three, uh, each year that gets this award. The website has the listing of the awardees and it's the head of the committee is a former
Speaker 1 00:44:28 Long time pitcher, Kevin Barrett from the Cleveland scrappers
Speaker 5 00:44:36 And is a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 1 00:44:41 Um, so Derek, I'd like to talk to you about your championship pitching, uh, you must have quite an arm. So what, how, how did that feel like to you when you, when you got that and when you, you know, each time you kind of get one of those big things and that's quite a feat, right?
Speaker 5 00:45:04 Yeah. You know, honestly, um, it's, it's, uh, it's been kind of surreal, uh, like when the first championship that I won was with a team called the Kansas all-stars and it was made up of several individuals who have had played and beat baseball for a decade or more. Um, and so it was really gratifying just to, and satisfying, I guess, to help them get over the hump and when their first championship. Um, and then the same thing, really with the most recent ones, uh, winning it with my dad and, and helping, you know, the, the 30 other people that are on our roster. Um, actually 40, I think now, but, um, to help them succeed, you know, and being successful and winning a game and winning a championship, um, it's really satisfying to win it alongside other people. Um, I think is really what the big thing is for me to, to help others succeed. And how old were you when you won your first championship? 16. When, uh, uh, when I won the first one 16.
Speaker 1 00:46:19 Wow. So I don't ever want to arm wrestle you
Speaker 5 00:46:25 Well, well, fortunately you, don't gotta be too strong to throw a beat ball because I'm not, I'm not really strong. So
Speaker 1 00:46:33 Is the age range of people that play currently in your beat baseball?
Speaker 5 00:46:39 Oh, wow. So, um, I would say that we, I know that we have, um, a couple of pictures that are in their fifties and sixties and at least one that is in their eighties. Um, yeah. And so, uh, I, I can think of a couple players that are in their late fifties, even early sixties. And I could, the youngest player I can think of is maybe 12 from the New Jersey Titans. So there's a big spread. So like for instance, on our team, I think our youngest player is 14. Our oldest player is like 57.
Speaker 1 00:47:20 Well, my research woman Charlene was thinking she was too old. So Charlene tough enough girl.
Speaker 2 00:47:30 And it is coed.
Speaker 1 00:47:32 Let's talk about that. So how do you keep it? Is there, does it tend to be more men than women? Do you try to keep it equal? Are there ever teams that are all male or all female,
Speaker 2 00:47:46 It's just constantly evolving. Some teams just sometimes have several women on them and some teams had some women on them and then don't now, but there, there are no restrictions or quotas or mandates or in any way, shape or form. Um, and yeah, I players range from 12 to 71 that I can think of on the field. Um, and Greg is near the top end of that spectrum.
Speaker 1 00:48:20 Oh, she's telling a new Greg.
Speaker 2 00:48:24 He is in the hall of fame, so,
Speaker 1 00:48:27 Oh, that's true. That's true. I guess you can't have it both ways or can you, um, well, that's pretty cool that, so it sounds like, do you have to have special permission to get in that young? Like, is there anything you have to do or is it if you're good, you're good. And you just, or if you have a desire to play, then you're welcomed in
Speaker 2 00:48:49 No parental waiver, you know, that's the same as in any sport, but no, we don't have any restrictions. It's just the team. Yep. That's exactly what I was getting ready to say. I think the NBA is like six under 16. You got to have a parental waiver, I think. Um, and I know that for, like, for instance, that thunder, we have age restrictions on, on the field volunteers, um, as well as players, um, that did that. There's a certain age that if you're, if you're younger than that, you can't, I think it's like 12 and 10 or something like that.
Speaker 1 00:49:31 You find your volunteers
Speaker 2 00:49:36 Beg, borrow, steal. A lot of our volunteers, our family members to see how much the sport means to someone that they care about and get drawn in or involved, uh, or through publicity, such as this, or through a club presentation that they heard about it at a lion's club. Someone has come in with a beat baseball and a bass and is, uh, appealing for help, uh, or, you know, um, fundraiser activities where you get the word out because people want to know how blind people play baseball. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and I can actually think of a individual with a thunder who, um, we were out at practice one day
Speaker 5 00:50:28 In a park and he came by and he was like, what's this? And then he got interested. And so now he, uh, he helped out, he don't, he don't travel to the tournament's with this, but I feel like a lot of the teams throughout the league have a lot of individuals who help them with, uh, behind the scenes stuff throughout the year. Um, and still don't go to the world series, but they most certainly help the team, um, whether that's, you know, helping haul equipment or help the players, um, or just showing up and helping out at practice, um, you know, just word of mouth. And like Janet said, through events that that teams do to raise money or raise awareness,
Speaker 1 00:51:06 You feel like it is getting harder to get younger people interested in doing sports.
Speaker 5 00:51:14 Actually, we've been having an influx of, of younger athletes over the last, I don't know, five to 10 years or so, um, uh, across our league really, uh, it seems like almost every team is bringing in one young person a year. Now it seems like.
Speaker 1 00:51:34 So where can people go to find out more about beep baseball? What's your website,
Speaker 5 00:51:40 It's www.nbba.org. Uh, of course you could just Google national beep baseball association. You'll probably find our Facebook page cause it's, uh, it's called national beep baseball association, or you could do at MBBA 76. We're also on Twitter, um, national beat baseball association or at NBA. And we also have a YouTube page where you can go in and look at some of the past championships, uh, that were filmed and that is national beat baseball association.
Speaker 1 00:52:15 Any final departing words that you'd like to leave people with before you go?
Speaker 5 00:52:21 Yeah, I, uh, I appreciate you having us on and allowing us to talk about beat baseball. And I would encourage anyone who has listened to this. Um, if you're interested in deep baseball, just get on nba.org, like Janet said, you can see if there's a local team and there'll be a contact link for an email and reach out. And if nothing else, you can just send a Facebook message to our national beep baseball association page, and we'll get you a where you need to go.
Speaker 1 00:52:51 You guys so very much for coming on. I appreciate it. And good luck. I know you have a tournament coming up, um, bold or crazy one or the other. I'm not sure which I'll, I'll reframe for my political comments, but they're both out there. Good luck with it. And hopefully next year we'll be a much more stable and normal year for you.
Speaker 5 00:53:13 Thank you, Sam. Thanks Sam.
Speaker 1 00:53:16 This has been disability and progress. The views expressed on this show are not necessarily those of cafe and or its board of directors. My name is Sam. I'm the, the producer of the show. Um, thank you to Matt and Annie for engineering. This episode. It's Matt's last time we will miss you so much, Matt, good luck in New York and don't do anything I wouldn't do. And since you don't know what I wouldn't do, the sky is the limit. Alright. And Charlene doll is my research team. We have been speaking about beep baseball tonight, and we were speaking with Dennis Leonard. Who's a longtime spotter and volunteer and current, um, tournament committee member, Greg <inaudible>. Who's a long time player and hall of fame inductee in 2016 and Jared Woodard, who is a many time championship, five, I guess, pitcher and a PR director and a second vice president of the national beef ball association.
