If you were blind 50 years ago, you couldn’t play baseball, but you probably wanted to. After all, many of your sighted friends and family members were doing it, and you may have even sat in the stands cheering them on, dreaming that one day you too might be able to play. Then, everything changed.
In 1964, Charley Fairbanks, an engineer with Mountain Bell Telephone, invented a beeping baseball. The Telephone Pioneers, a nation-wide service organization of telephone company employees, developed a set of whistling bases and rules for an adapted version of the game, but it wasn’t until 1975 that baseball for the blind really took off, thanks to the Minnesota Telephone Pioneers and several motivated players from Minnesota. They beefed up the beep baseball, rewrote the rulebook, and held the first world series of beep baseball in St. Paul. In many ways, beep baseball was invented in Minnesota.
Still, many blind people are barred from playing beep baseball because the equipment is rare and expensive, and games are few and far between. Some states have more than one team, but most have only one. Some more well-to-do teams hold weekend tournaments to bring teams together, but the ultimate goal of any beep baseball team is to attend the beep baseball world series, a double elimination tournament where teams from around the world compete to be crowned the world champion of beep baseball.
The mission of the Minnesota Millers is to give the gift of beep baseball to the state of Minnesota. When we’re not playing, we’re practicing. When we’re not practicing, we’re recruiting new players and volunteers so that more Minnesotans can enjoy the game. In our spare time, we raise funds so we can play more, practice more, and recruit more.
Beep baseball isn’t just for people who are blind, though. Everyone connected with it comes away with something special.
Volunteers are quickly hooked. Many volunteers have been involved since the sport’s inception. They say that they make life-long friendships, they love the game, and they see the difference they make in peoples’ lives.
Fans say that watching beep baseball is as exciting as any other sport. Many people come away from their first game with a new appreciation for what blindness is all about. One fan says she enjoys seeing the players supporting each other as much as she enjoys the game itself.
Players come to beep baseball for many reasons. Some played baseball before they lost their sight and want to continue. Others always dreamed of playing competitive sports, but were barred from it because of their blindness. Others become hooked on beep baseball after being introduced to it by a friend, family member, or teacher.
Your tax deductable donations make all of this possible:
- $5 buys one blindfold. (Because some players still have some vision, all players must wear blindfolds to make it fair.)
- $25 buys one day of meals at the beep baseball world series. (Proper nutrition keeps us going through two or three games in one day.)
- $30 buys one player’s jersey. (uniforms are a National Beep Baseball Association requirement.)
- $35 buys one beeping baseball. (The beeper doesn’t last long when it’s hit again and again with a heavy bat.)
- $350 buys a set of buzzing bases. (Bases are like tackling dummies with a loud buzzer in them.)
- $500 buys one player meals and a hotel room at the beep baseball world series. (Hotels usually cost about $90 per night.)
- $1000 covers a player’s entire trip to the World Series. (Airline tickets are around $500 each, and charter busses aren’t much cheaper.)
Please give to the Minnesota Millers, so we can keep giving the gift of beep baseball to Minnesota:
- Donate online: mnmillers.org (use the “donate” button on the left side of the page.)
- Donate by mail: 7023 Amundson Ave., Edina, MN. 55439 (make checks payable to The Minnesota Fighting Lions)