[Nfbmo] Baseball at it's finest.
Cory McMahon
cjmc404 at hotmail.com
Sun May 20 21:53:27 UTC 2012
I, for one, appreciated the story and, thank-you, Fred, for sharing it!
Until you shared the story, I wasn't aware of this person's journey to all
of the ballparks across the country.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Bryan Schulz" <b.schulz at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 4:47 PM
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Baseball at it's finest.
> hi,
>
> i don't see it as a positive story when the news channels did the story
> when he was in town.
> stories like his add to the difficulty of blind people being employed when
> the news made it seem like it was a f'n miracle that a blind person could
> find the stadium and attend a game.
>
> Bryan Schulz
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: fred olver
> To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List ; NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> ; msb-alumni at googlegroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 11:58 AM
> Subject: [Nfbmo] Baseball at it's finest.
>
>
> You may not think this is about you, but I think it's something we can
> all learn from.
>
> In two weeks, Reggie Deal will plop down in a seat at Target Field at
> Minneapolis and be generally unimpressed by the skyline, the giant Target
> ad on Target Center, or the big light pole beyond the rightfield
> bleachers. Deal won't see any of those things, but despite being blind,
> he'll drink the scene in with other senses.
> "There are a lot of things you're able to experience," he tells MLB.com,
> "when your faculties take over and supplement what's not there."
> Deal has started a mission to visit 30 baseball parks in 30 days. He's
> sandwiching Minneapolis in between Boston and Phoenix.
> "I want people to have a different visual of what blindness entails," the
> Wyoming man said. "People get caught up in the negative, but there are
> ways to work around it."
> He's documenting his trip on his Facebook page (he's also on Twitter),
> where it's obvious one of his biggest challenges will be how to fit in all
> the fans who want to meet him into what must surely be a hectic schedule
> to make the ballgames and the airline connections.
> "People ask me, 'How can you enjoy the game without seeing it?'" he said.
> "I say, 'You don't realize how much of the game you can pick up on until
> you close your eyes.'"
>
>
> this is the first one I read
>
>
> Reggie Deal can tell a lot about baseball by simply listening.
> As he stood near the batting cage at Target Field earlier this month
> before a game between the Twins and Blue Jays, Deal could hear how the
> baseball came off the bat of Minnesota's Trevor Plouffe.
> "The way the ball sounds off the bat, if you're close enough to the
> plate, sometimes it'll give you an indication if it's a slice — like
> that," Deal said as Plouffe curved one foul down the right-field line. "Or
> if it's real hard hit."
> Most baseball fans might not pick up on such subtleties, but Reggie Deal
> is not like most baseball fans. The 39-year-old has been blind since he
> was a baby. Born prematurely, he was placed in an incubator. But an
> overexposure to oxygen in the incubator caused his retinas to detach from
> his eyes.
> Deal hasn't been able to see since then, but that hasn't stopped him from
> enjoying the fine details of a baseball game. As a matter of fact, Deal is
> on the home stretch of a quest to see all 30 major league ballparks in a
> 30-day span. Saturday, he was at Comerica Park in Detroit, his 21st park
> of the trip. Sunday, he'll visit Coors Field in Denver for ballpark No.
> 22.
> It's something Deal has wanted to do for years — the idea for this
> journey came about nearly 15 years ago, he said. But he started getting
> serious about it in recent years by planning itineraries for his trip.
> His plans became reality April 29 as the Texas native and current Wyoming
> resident began his journey at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He'll end
> his whirlwind tour on May 28 at iconic Wrigley Field in Chicago.
> Deal won't see all these parks like other fans would see them, but he
> remains intensely curious about many physical aspects of each stadium. He
> talks fondly of the warehouse building beyond right field at Camden Yards
> in Baltimore. And about how the odd shape of the outfield at Boston's
> Fenway Park intrigues him. He's also hoping to perhaps get a chance to
> tour the ivy-draped outfield walls of Wrigley Field.
> "For a blind man, he's one of the most visual people I've ever met," said
> Reggie's wife, Lorna.
> Being blind allows Deal to see ballparks in an entirely different
> fashion. He soaks in the smells of the roasting hog dogs and notes the
> differences in sounds from one park to another. During batting practice in
> Minneapolis, Deal commented on the echoes that resonated from Target Field
> as each ball hit the bat.
> "It's not that I really see anything that other people don't see. It's
> more the perspective," Deal said. "What I say is close your eyes for a
> minute and you'll notice there's a lot of things that go on in the
> ballpark that the stadium itself will tell you. . . . Those sounds and
> experiences will tell you things that are happening that you don't
> necessarily have to look at to fully appreciate. …
> "It's the totality of each ballpark that makes it unique in its own way."
> Reggie Deal is unique, too. Not only has he been blind since he was
> young, but Deal is also a thyroid cancer survivor. During his trek to see
> all 30 parks in 30 days, he's also helping promote thyroid cancer
> awareness by teaming with ThyCa, the Thyroid Cancer Survivors'
> Association.
> "It was a very changing experience," Lorna said of her husband's
> diagnosis, which came while he was in graduate school several years ago.
> "He decided then that you don't put things off that you want to do because
> you never really know how you have. Life should be lived to the fullest."
> And that's exactly what Reggie Deal is doing. He's currently between jobs
> after moving from Texas — where he was a program development specialist
> for a community college — to Afton, Wyo., to be with Lorna. The two met
> online and married in June 2011. Deal's trip will wrap up in time for him
> to return home and celebrate one year of marriage with Lorna, who stayed
> behind in Wyoming while her husband left for his cross-country voyage.
> "I'm ready to be home, and she really wants me back home,” Deal said. "At
> this point, I feel like I'm on the baseball version of a Mount Everest
> climb and I'm not going to stop now.”
> Being blind and traveling across America on his own has presented several
> challenges for Deal, who is paying for his trip out of his own pocket.
> Since he decided to travel without carrying much cash, he has had trouble
> finding taxis that take credit cards. In some cases, total strangers have
> driven him to find nearby ATMs.
> While in New York, he chipped a tooth when a cab door hit him in the
> mouth. The following day, he had to scramble after discovering his airport
> shuttle to take him to the hotel wasn't there.
> "It was one thing after another," Deal said. "Just seeing how shocked
> people are by the fact that I'm doing this and they seem to think, ‘My
> God. You've got a disability. You must have a travel companion, right?'
> I'm like, ‘No, I don't.' I never have, unless I'm traveling with my wife
> to go somewhere.”
> Recently, Deal had an issue with customs while flying from Los Angeles to
> Toronto. The flight attendant told him he must have a customs agent read
> the directions aloud, so Deal had to wait until he landed to fill out the
> forms.
> But he's pressed on and has had a pleasant experience at each ballpark.
> It's the task of getting there that's been a bit of an obstacle.
> "I was worried about the fiascoes of public transportation and how it
> would frustrate and upset him," Lorna said. "But him being out on his own
> and doing this on his own, I wasn't worried about him, per se. It was more
> about how others around him would respond."
> Deal's experiences have been memorable. He witnessed the boos that rained
> down on Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett on Thursday at Fenway Park — "They
> were on him mercilessly," Deal said — but missed Rangers slugger Josh
> Hamilton hit four home runs in one game by just one day.
> While in Toronto on Friday, Deal was keeping tabs on what Tigers pitcher
> Justin Verlander was doing in Detroit against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
> Verlander took a no-hitter into the ninth inning just one day before Deal
> was scheduled to visit Comerica Park. But Verlander fell just short,
> allowing his only hit in the ninth.
> "I'm sitting in Toronto (Friday) night and I'm thinking, ‘Verlander, you
> better not throw a no-hitter because I'm in Detroit the day after you make
> history,' ” Deal said. "I don't normally root for a guy to not get one,
> but I'm kind of glad he didn't. Otherwise I could honestly say that I
> missed two major baseball accomplishments by one day.”
> Deal has yet to witness a grand slam, an inside the park home run, a
> shutout or a walk-off. He's hoping to witness a bit of baseball history in
> his final week and a half of his journey.
> Even if he can't see it.
> "That's the beauty of baseball. You never know when someone's going to
> hit four home runs," Deal said. "You never know when someone's going to
> throw a no-hitter, pull off a triple play or an unassisted triple play or
> hit for the cycle. There's always the chance things happen."
>
> Deal's itinerary:
> April 29: Arlington, Texas
> April 30: Houston
> May 1: Atlanta
> May 2: St. Louis
> May 3: Kansas City
> May 4: St. Petersburg, Fla.
> May 5: New York (Citi Field)
> May 6: Washington
> May 7: Baltimore
> May 8: Philadelphia
> May 9: New York (Yankee Stadium)
> May 10: Boston
> May 11: Minneapolis
> May 12: Phoenix
> May 13: Oakland, Calif.
> May 14: San Francisco
> May 15: Los Angeles
> May 16: San Diego
> May 17: Anaheim, Calif.
> May 18: Toronto
> May 19: Detroit
> May 20: Denver
> May 21: Seattle
> May 22: Milwaukee
> May 23: Cleveland
> May 24: Cincinnati
> May 25: Pittsburgh
> May 26: Miami
> May 27: Chicago (US Cellular Field)
> May 28: Chicago (Wrigley Field)
>
>
>
>
> http://www.dealingwithvisionloss.com For some of us it's a way of life
> and for some of us it just makes life easier. Fred Olver
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