Blind Renegades Play Baseball

In the midst of their recent woes, perhaps the Red Sox will be inspired by the Boston Renegades. The Renegades are a team of blind individuals who play beep ball, a form of baseball specially modified for the blind. A special baseball that beeps (and weighs an entire pound!) is used, and payers run toward padded columnar "bases" that beep. Due to varying levels of sightedness, players wear blindfolds on the field to keep things equal. Volunteers are recruited to care for players' guide dogs, and fans are expected to stay silent so players can listen for the beeping balls and bases. A recent Wall Street Journal article explained the sport and profiled some members of the West Coast Dawgs, who recently won the Beep Baseball World Series, where the Renegades placed ninth.

Coming off their World Series experience, the Boston Renegades will participate in the first annual Northeast Beep Baseball Championship at 8:30am on August 29 at Yetten Field in Waltham. The Renegades will battle the Long Island Bombers and Pennsylvania Wolfpack in a day-long quest to determine the dominant beep baseball team of the Northeast.

So could the Renegades beat the Red Sox? The way the latter team has been playing, it seems possible. A Renegade recently featured in the Globe says he swings "for the fences, like Ortiz."