The bullet missed his brain but severed his optic nerves

February 17, 2013 8:51 AM

A Real World Series: Inside the world championship of blind baseball. "It’s different this year. I can’t get last year’s Series out of my mind, even though it ended in the last week of July, when Taiwan took two from Austin on a rainy Saturday in Ames, Iowa, to win the title in the 37th annual world series of blind baseball."

As we head into the World Baseball Classic (which opens in Japan and Puerto Rico in two weeks), Peter Richmond writes about the world series of blind baseball for baseball megasite SB Nation.

Via Twitter pal @yakyunightowl, who shares my passion for Japanese baseball and the Mariners.

posted by mwhybark (7 comments total)

(time-specific self-derail: the free Criterion stuff on Hulu this weekend includes I Will Own You, a 1956 Japanese drama directed by Masaki Kobayashi about, generally, corruption in the Japanese baseball signing system.)
posted by mwhybark at 9:09 AM on February 17, 2013

That was really interesting. Thanks. I find it incredible that the players can connect bat to ball, even given that the ball is larger and the pitcher is on their side. I'm wondering how they decide which base to set abuzz; I assume there's some kind of randomization involved. The article wasn't very clear about this aspect of the game.
posted by axiom at 11:31 AM on February 17, 2013

This is amazing -- thanks!

Really fascinating to see folks making those kinds of adaptations in pursuit of camaraderie and sporting competition where a lot of others would just assume it isn't possible. Beautiful stuff.
posted by Hadroed at 12:05 PM on February 17, 2013

Saw this on sbnation the other day; so cool. Thanks for posting it here.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:13 PM on February 17, 2013

Rules are here. It was hard to find since the author experiences one of those brain glitches (I know so well) and calls it the NBBL. It turns out to be the NBBA. However, I'm striking out when it comes to finding the rule governing base buzzer activation...
posted by TreeRooster at 12:36 PM on February 17, 2013

I'll take a guess though: I bet an ump chooses a base to ensure the runner is not likely to collide with a fielder. I think an out is declared as soon as the ball is successfully in the glove of a fielder, not by tagging. Also not in the rules that I could spot yet: any rule requiring that players be legally blind.
posted by TreeRooster at 12:43 PM on February 17, 2013

Damn umpire! What are you, sighted?
posted by ShutterBun at 5:57 PM on February 17, 2013 [1 favorite]