National Beep Baseball Association

The National Beep Baseball Association NBBA was organized in 1976 for visually impaired adults to play baseball. Each year the NBBA coordinates local, state, and regional tournaments, not least among them the Indy Invitational in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Bolingbrook Beep Ball Bash (one of the first tournaments to offer a cash award) outside Chicago, Illinois, and in some cases a round robin tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and, more recently, a round robin tournament in the Philadelphia area. In August of each year the NBBA sponsors a national and international invitational tournament. The 2007 World Series, as the August invitational is known, was held, for the first time in memory, in a city which boasts no beep baseball team, namely, Rochester, Minnesota. More recently, the World Series has been held in Columbus, Ohio in 2004, Houston, Texas in 2005, and in Cleveland, Ohio in 2006. The World Series was held in Taiwan in 2000.

Basic Rules

Setup

Beep baseball is played on a grass field with 6 fielders (generally a first-baseman, third-baseman, shortstop, left fielder, right fielder, and center fielder, though two-four defensive sets are not unheard-of. and 1 or 2 "spotters" from one team, and the pitcher, catcher, and batter from the other team. Fielders and batter are blindfolded. There is also a D.H. and D.F. (designated fielder). They must also be legally blind in most cases. Catcher, pitcher, and spotters do not wear blindfolds and are usually sighted, although there have been a few who are partially blind. The ball beeps and is a modified, and oversized, softball. The bases are blue, nearly 5 feet tall, and have mostly foam interior with the electronics that cause it to buzz steadily when a switch is thrown. They are each placed 100 feet from homeplate and are in the equivalent positions to first and third bases in regular baseball.

How a run is accomplished

When the batter hits the ball, a base operator turns on one of the two bases (first or third) for the batter to run to. If the batter touches the base before a fielder can pick up the ball, the offensive team scores a run. It takes 4 strikes for a batter to be out. If the ball goes beyond the two base lines or doesn't travel at least 40 feet, it is foul and counted as a strike unless it is the potential fourth strike, when the batter just swings again. If the ball ceases to beep and becomes a "dead ball" the strike count is reset and the batter swings again. A dead ball must not be touched. If it is, it is said to be back in play and the runner must be put out.

Spotting

The spotter or spotters call out a number to signify which part of the field a ball is travelling towards. Generally, the middle of the outfield is labeled 6, and either side, left and right, is numbered one to five in a mirroring pattern. The spotter must not say anything beyond the numbered region on the field, and two spotters cannot make a call on the same play. If either case occurs, the run scores. The fielders head towards that section and listen for where the ball is specifically, often diving to the ground to get it. When a fielder picks up the ball before the batter reaches the base, the batter is out. The spotter must also watch to ensure that nobody collides.

Innings

Beep baseball generally has 6 innings. If one team is up by twelve or more runs, the other team has the opportunity to have short innings in which the losing team bats every inning and the winning team fields. This is known as the twelve-run rule, and when it occurs, one team is said to "twelve-run" another. If the other team makes up the difference, then the team that had been winning gets back all their missed at-bats.

There are no age or gender-based restrictions in beep baseball; people as old as 70 and as young as 12 have played.

Teams

Several teams currently playing (over 200 teams, example of about 20 in 2008) are:

• Arizona Sidewinders (Chandler, Arizona)
• Austin (Texas) Blackhawks
• Bay Area Microchips (San Jose, California)
• Bayou City Heat (Houston, Texas)
• Boston (Massachusetts) Renegades
• Chicago (Illinois) Comets
• Cleveland (Ohio) Scrappers
• Colorado Storm (Boulder, Colorado)
• Columbus (Ohio) Vipers
• Florida Flamingoes (Orlando, Florida)
• Indianapolis (Indiana) Thunder
• Kansas All-Stars (Kansas City, Kansas)
• Lone Star (Fort Worth, Texas) Roadrunners
• Long Island (New York) Bombers (Islip, New York)
• Los Angeles Bats
• SMURF AND BANKS (Bloomington, Minnesota)
• New York Heroes (Colonie, New York)
• Oklahoma City Bombers
• Pennsylvania Wolfpack (Moosic, Pennsylvania)
• Providence (Rhode Island) Power
• Southern Cal. Guardians (Claremont, California)
• Southwest Slammers (Tucson, Arizona)
• Stockton (California) Sting Rays
• Taiwan Homerun (Irvine, California)
• Tyler (Texas) Tigers
• West Coast (California) Dawgs (Fresno, California).

External links

• Official web site
• Field of Beeps Multimedia story with video and audio of the Long Island Bombers.