Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Look at 'Beep-Ball'

Aired August 02, 2002 - 12:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Baseball is America's pastime, the crack of the boat, the roar of the crowd, the beep of the ball? Yes, the game is also for those who can't see the old horse hide coming. Some of the best beep-ball players are in Chicago, and they're blind.

Here is reporter Sky Ziskin (ph) of CNN affiliate WFLD in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SKY ZISKIN (ph), WFLD REPORTER: To most people this appears to be a regular game of softball. There is a pitcher, a batter, a ball. But in this game, the ball beeps, the bases buzz, and the players are blind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's some experience I have never had before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing.

ZISKIN (ph): The rules are simple. The pitcher and batter are on the same team. The goal is to hit the ball and tackle the buzzing base before an outfielder finds the ball and raises it in the air.

JOHN HERZOG, CHICAGO COMETS COACH: There is only two bases, first and third, and there is a base operator, and the base operator will randomly choose first or third. The batter never knows which base will be activated.

ZISKIN (ph): The Chicago Comets are in running to be world champions this weekend. Fourteen teams from around the cannot try and two from Taiwan are battling too. For people like David Smolka, who's been blind 13 years, beep ball was an instant hit.

DAVID SMOLKA, BEEP-BALL PLAYER: I can't play baseball any more, I like to play ball. So I found out beep ball is around, so I got to play. Now I can play something I love.

ZISKIN (ph): Women play too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost my sight when I was six, and then someone introduced it to me when I was nine, and I loved it, and I fell in love with it.

ZISKIN (ph) (on camera): You have to hear that ball in your dreams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some days I do.

ZISKIN (ph) (voice-over): There are a couple players who are not visually impaired, the pitcher and the catcher. But everyone else wears blind folds to make sure the playing field is level. Because after all, these players keep their ears on the ball.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That report again from Sky Ziskin CNN Chicago affiliate WFLD.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com