Roy Weidner coached a Tallahassee team to the Babe Ruth baseball World Series championship two years ago. If your child ever gets to play on his team, consider yourself lucky: He is as good as they come at teaching kids the game of baseball.
On this particular Thursday night, on a magical synthetic field built for players with disabilities, the game he was helping to teach was only incidentally baseball. The true lesson for his talented Babe Ruth players was real life. And he was gaining a new perspective himself. Click here to view our photo gallery.
"The (Miracle League) players said many times how great it is something was made for them to get to play baseball," Weidner said. "One older player even said he wanted to play all his life and this was his first chance."
Welcome to the Miracle League Field, nestled between the Skate Park and Leon County Jail at Messer Park off Jackson Bluff on Tallahassee’s south side, a place where real dreams come true.
"All of our players are success stories," said Stephanie Rehberg, recreation leisure specialist with the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association, who also served as a pitcher in Thursday’s game between the Braves and Rays until Tallahassee Community College President Bill Law came on in relief.
Coaching third base was former state director of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities Jane Johnson.
It takes a whole lot of caring people to create miracles. I heard about another Miracle League player who called his grandmother after a game to tell her how he was playing real baseball, on a real team with real uniforms.
Trust me on this, as a parent of a child with multiple disabilities who had watched her siblings play baseball for all of her 16 years from a wheelchair, it doesn't get any more real than this.
Want to talk about miracles? Just look at the smile as Miracle League player Tyrone Jackson crosses home plate or Lacey Lowery high-fives her Babe Ruth player "buddy" Robert Robbins.
Or how about this from Rehberg:
"Some of the players did not even know what the game of baseball was, and now they are playing and they don’t want to leave the field. I have seen our players’ hand-eye coordination improve from week to week."
Weidner was with a group of Babe Ruth players – among the best 13- to 15-year-old players in the region – who came out to "buddy" the Miracle League players. The interaction between the players from the two leagues, well, that’s the greatest miracle of them all.
Another group of Babe Ruth players will be out at the Miracle League field this Thursday night. Come out at 6 p.m. to watch if you want a treat.
"Since the league was formed, the local Babe Ruth league has played a significant role through fundraisers and having teams serve as buddies," Rehberg said. "We (also) have had people who have no affiliation with baseball come out and volunteer, and they gain as much or more than our players do."
Unquestionably.
That was the universal feeling among Babe Ruth players and coaches after the game. They didn’t have to say so; you could just see it in the players’ faces.
It took a huge effort just to get the field built, with many groups – including both the city of Tallahassee and Leon County governments – coming together. Genesis, Sandco and Roberts Asphalt Paving donated services, and the Kiwanis of the Big Bend raised more than $200,000 from businesses and individual donations.
To maintain the league, funding still is needed, Rehberg said, for ongoing administration and support costs, including franchise fees. "Assistance from our community is essential and much appreciated," she said.
In return, the Miracle League players will warm your heart and make you smile. This is no imaginary Iowa cornfield, but you still might think it's heaven.
"Some players that struggled with hitting the ball at the beginning now do not have to use the tee," Rehberg said. "More importantly, these players are learning social skills and what being part of a team really means. Players who are normally shy around other people have completely come out of their shell and try and talk to everybody. This league is so much more than the game of baseball."
To volunteer or make a donation, or just to find out more about the Miracle League and other programs that FDOA offers, go to www.fdoa.org, e-mail Rehberg or call (850) 201-2944.
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