The Arc’s ‘beep ball’ tournament opens eyes to a new way of playing baseball

ALBANY – If you’re a baseball player and you decide you want to have a go at “beep ball,” forget all those things that your coaches taught you.

“Keep your eye on the ball?”

In beep ball that’s so wrong it’s almost funny. No, in this game, it’s more like “keep your ear open for the buzzing of the ball.”

Beep ball is baseball for the blind, and right now seven teams – most of whom, by the way, are not blind – are getting ready for a beep ball tournament to raise funds for the Arc of Southwest Georgia, an Albany-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live the life they choose.

The tournament, which as of Sunday included teams from The Arc – which has a ringer, by the way – Monroe High School, Lee County High School, Lee County SWAT, Ameris Bank, Deerfield-Windsor School and Worth County High School, will be played March 14 at Sherwood Christian School’s Legacy Park.

The Arc’s “ringer” is Tim Chappell, who helped form the organization’s first beep ball team back in 2010. He’s since gone on to play on teams in Columbus and in St. Louis. That latter team, the Gateway Archers, has afforded Chappell the opportunity to travel extensively, with trips this year planned in Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Cincinnati, Indiana and Oklahoma.

Oh, and it probably should be mentioned that Chappell’s been diagnosed as legally blind since birth. (And, I’ll confess here that we were about a half-hour into our conversation with Arc Marketing and Fundraising Specialist Sherry Clark before I realized that Tim actually is blind.)

“I was born with ‘stargardt’s’ (disease), a rare disorder,” Chappell said. “It just happened that my mom and dad both carried the gene for the disorder. I’m the only one who got it; none of my other siblings did.”

But Chappell had a couple of things going for him as he began to navigate a virtually sightless world.

“My mom and grandmother would not allow me to wallow in self-pity,” he said. “I walk through life now with no problems at all.”

Chappell ran into a kindred spirit of sorts in Clark, who has been in her position at The Arc for the past seven months.

“I’ve worked in nonprofits and banking in my career, and I really wasn’t planning on getting back into nonprofits,” she said. “But this opportunity came up, I prayed about it, and less than 24 hours later I had the job.

“There just isn’t a bad day here. There’s such joy being with our people.”

Clark was the perfect person to work with Chappell on bringing beep ball back to southwest Georgia.

“I loved softball growing up,” she said. “When my dad got in from work, if there was any light outside, we went out and played.

“It was a strange sensation at first learning about beep ball, and in fact, the first time I was out in the field, Tim hit a ball that hit me in the chest. I wasn’t ready for that … but I did actually catch the ball.”

Perhaps a primer in beep ball is in order. Created in 1973 by Ralph Rock, the game is played with a special ball – slightly larger and a bit softer than a regulation softball – that, when activated, emits a beeping sound, and the pitcher alerts the batter when a pitch is thrown. 

“You alert the batter when the pitch is coming by calling out ‘Set, ready, ball’ before the pitch,” said Chappell, who is a Beep Baseball professional, four-time all-star, two-time MVP both in Georgia and the National Beep Ball Association World Series, and a two-time gold medal winner.

“For someone who’s blind – or someone wearing the sport’s official blindfold (which allows not a hint of anything other than darkness) – that’s tricky at first. But it’s really all about timing. When a batter hits the ball, an official activates one of two buzzing bases, and if the batter reaches the base, it’s a point for his team. If a fielder – all of whom also are ‘blind’ — gets the ball before the runner reaches base, it’s an out.”

Chappell and The Arc host clinics to explain the intricacies of the game. They plan to host one more clinic, on Feb. 28, so any group that would like to enter a team in the March 14 tournament must plan to attend the clinic.

The seven (or possibly more) teams that enter the single-elimination tournament will be part of a full day at Legacy Park.

“We’ll have vendors, merchandise, food and the beep ball games, which are so much fun to watch,” Clark said. “All the money we raise will go toward programs for The Arc. We’d like to invite the community – not just the teams – to come out and watch the tournament. It’s really a lot of fun; it’s actually been life-altering for me, if I can use that overused term.

“Every dollar raised through this tournament will go directly toward creating more group homes for individuals with disabilities in our community and helping meet the growing needs of those we serve.”

The Arc provides essential services such as community living support, employment services, community integration, and daily living skills for the people the organization serves.

“This sport means a lot to me, but it’s already had an impact at The Arc,” Chappell, who works as a receptionist for the agency, said. “There was a blind person who would not interact in social situations because he felt he didn’t deserve to, But he’s started coming out and is opening up a little at a time.

“That makes this even more special.”

For additional information, contact Clark at [email protected].