Editorial
Front Page - Monday, January 18, 2010
The Miracle League is a diamond in the city
Rebecca Brockman
“You can teach a lot about life out on a baseball field, if you coach it right,” said Peggy McCall, executive director of the Miracle League. Referring to an organization she started in the fall of 2006 that allows kids and adults with disabilities to play baseball at a modified ballpark. The idea actually came about two years prior to when the first game was held. McCall approached the mayor of Little Rock and asked for Ray Winder field, but was told the local rotary club would be a better place to go to get plans moving. She told Club 99, “I’m going to do this, why don’t we team up and we will make this thing happen together.”
The rotary club raised the money and after nine months of construction, the field, located off of Cantrell by Cajun’s Warf, was completed. “We started our first little season in the fall of 2006. We had 41 players. Then we added 40 more in the spring,” McCall said. “Our range of disability is huge, from really high functioning to the highly involved.” She explained that, to the general public, the high functioning kids don’t really demonstrate any disability. Highly involved kids can be blind, deaf or perhaps in a wheelchair. “We have everything. We have some kids who have a one in a million diagnosis,” McCall said. But she stressed that the diagnosis is not even a thought on the field. “My theory is that, the less you know sometimes, the more normal you treat people,” she said. McCall credits the simple theory to the success of the organization. “They are kids first and they happen to have a disability. There is no pity,” she explained. “They are rotten, ornery kids and that’s how we treat them!”
During the regular season, McCall and the Miracle League coaches rely on about 200 volunteers to run a successful game day. The large number of volunteers is needed because every player has a buddy. Parents are able to sit in the stand and watch their kids. “This is one of my hard and fast rules. There are exceptions, but the parents need a break from the kids and kids need a break from their parents,” McCall said. They intentionally designed the ballpark to have one stand so parents can meet other parents and enjoy the game.
Recently, an adult and a competitive youth league have been added to the Miracle League family. There are 110 players in the adult league. Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled (AEDD) is the primary participants of the adult league. AEDD provides housing, support care and jobs for people who are disabled. “It’s amazing, (the adult league players have) never been on a team, they’ve never had a trophy or jersey,” McCall said. “They never had what every body takes for granted.” One person who is catching up on her homeruns is 73-year old named Leona. “Life expectancy for people with disabilities is usually less, so to have a 73-year old is amazing,” McCall said.
The competitive league plays Friday nights under the lights and is designed for real high functioning kids who “need to learn to win and lose nicely.” The rules have been slightly adapted. McCall explained that there are five strikes, four balls and the pitches are directed to the strike zone.
The competitive league is different from the original Saturday games that take place in the spring and fall. “Every kid gets up to bat, hits the ball, gets to a base and scores a run. The last person on the team bats and brings everyone in, they hit a homerun,” McCall said. “The run may be two feet in front of them, but we make it a big deal.”
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At the end of last year, I had the opportunity to visit a Miracle League game and event. I can personally attest to the fact that every player is treated like they hit the winning world series run every time they are up to bat. The laughter and shouts were heard before I even entered the ballpark. Kids were running, a child in a wheelchair was rounding second and the parents were relaxed and watching from the stands. On that particular day, Cliff Lee (formally from the Phillies) and A.J. Burnett, from the New York Yankees paid a visit to the Miracle League field. From an outside perspective, it was just a normal day at the ballpark, but an extraordinary day for the kids wearing the jerseys.
For more information about this amazing organization, visit www.miracleleaguear.com and to learn more about becoming a buddy, call Peggy McCall at (501) 940-3405.
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