Steven Harris, known as “Stevie” to his closest friends and family, enjoys playing sports and many other recreational activities, but one night, his life changed forever.
Six years ago in June, the Columbus resident went to bed one night and woke up the next morning totally blind. It turned out that Harris suffered an extremely rare autoimmune disease called serpiginous retinitis.
Following his diagnosis, Harris, who had played football an competed in track and field at Columbus East, still had that itch to go out and play sports. He soon joined the Blind Bowling League.
It was there where one of the coaches from the bowling league asked Harris if was interested in “beep baseball”. He decided to give beep baseball a shot, and the rest was history.
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Harris said beep baseball is a lot of fun to play because it’s a great way to get his competitive juices back flowing again.
“The bowling is fun, but it just wasn’t competitive enough for me,” Harris said.
Harris admitted that he was scared at first when trying beep baseball for the first time.
“I was nervous because I was like, ‘Wow! That’s a lot of trust in people,’” Harris said. “The more I got into playing it, and the more I got to talking with people, it has taught me everything that I know now of being blind.”
Harris got the opportunity to play in one of the best clubs in the National Beep Baseball Association — Indy Thunder. Harris and the Thunder competed in the NBBA World Series in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from July 28 to Aug. 3, where they became the World Series champions.
The Indy Thunder, based out of Indianapolis, has been the NBBA champions for the past four years. Harris was on the team for three of those championships. He played for Indy Edge prior to joining Indy Thunder.
Beep Baseball is a version of baseball for blind and visually impaired players.
In Beep Baseball, everyone wears a blindfold, but instead of the pitcher and batter being on opposite teams, the pitcher and the batter are on the same team. The pitcher and batter work so that their timing is in sync, allowing the batter to get a hit. Each batter gets four strikes.
Six defenders are spread out among numbered zones in the field. Once the ball is put into play, sighted spotters call out the zone and that player goes for the ball. If the defender gets the ball before the batter makes it to the base, it’s an out. If the runner first makes it to the base 100 feet away, that’s a run scored.
There are only two bases in beep baseball — first and third. The operator decides randomly which base the batter has to run to. A sound tells the runner which base to go to. There are no runners on base or walks; the batter either scores or is out.
The beepball is 16-inches and weighs about one pound, and there is a speaker inside the ball that beeps. The games typically are played on a soccer field.
Harris’ visual impairment doesn’t stop him from having a full-time job. He is employed through the Adult and Child Resources by cleaning the Rest Area near the Taylorsville exit on northbound I-65. It is his way of giving back to the community.
Harris says he still wants to play beep baseball for many years to come, but he also wants to expand his horizons of trying of other sports for the blind.
“I’ve heard recently of blind darts, and that’s maybe something that I’ll give a whirl,” Harris said.
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Name: Steven Harris
Age: 34
High school: Columbus East
Residence: Columbus
Occupation: Works at Taylorsville Rest Area
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