[Nfbmo] Baseball at it's finest.

Sun May 20 22:03:46 UTC 2012

I agree with both of you.  I think that the story was worth sharing.
It's neat that he is raising awareness for cancer, but I think the
article was written poorly.  I also think that it might be neat for
sighted people to learn how we can enjoy sports despite our blindness,
but the reporter could have done a better job of relating the story.

News articles about us as blind people can really hurt us by
portraying us as living, breathing miracles, but they could really
help us.  In this article, Deal was able to get his voice heard.  I
think that's important too.  If we don't speak up about our blindness,
and yes, even explain how we do certain things, the stereotypes will
remain.  Just my two cents that turned into a novel...

On 5/20/12, Cory McMahon <cjmc404 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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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-- 
Julie McG
 Lindbergh High School class of 2009, National Federation of the Blind
of Missouri recording secretary,
and proud graduate of Guiding Eyes for the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16