Beep Baseball World Series

Beep Baseball is for people who are visually impaired. The World Series is in Rochester this year. I watched Boston play Long Island for about 3 innings Friday afternoon. Whenever Boston scored a run they would all yell, "Beantown, Beantown. How do we hit it? Wicked hard!"

Here's some info about the game:

• 6 innings


• 3 outs per inning per team


• 4 sighted players- pitcher, catcher, 2 spotters in the outfield


• all players wear eye-covering because not all are completely blind
  
• first and third bases -four foot padded cylinders 100 feet down their respective lines and 10 feet off the foul line to prevent a runner from colliding with a defensive fielder.


• the ball (which beeps constantly) is pitched from a distance of 20 feet


• a pitcher must say "ready" just before the ball is about to be released. This alerts all players that the ball may soon be hit. As the ball is being released, the pitcher says, "pitch" or "ball." The batter allows a split second of time to pass before swinging.


• a batter is allowed 4 strikes and only 1 pass ball. The fourth swing must be a clean miss.


• a hit ball must travel at least 40 feet to be considered fair.


• a ball that travels 180 feet in the air is considered a home run.


• when the ball is hit, one base buzzes. The runner must run to it before the ball is fielded by a defensive player. The fielder must have the ball in hand and off the ground to constitute possession. If the runner is safe, a run is scored.


• there are only 6 players on the field at one time. When a ball is hit, a spotter will instantly call out the number indicating the general direction the ball is traveling- One, the first baseman; two, right fielder; three, middle; four, left fielder; five, third baseman; and six, back fielder.