2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-Miracle League Gives the Gift of Sport（在线收听） |
| Major League baseball players are now deep into spring training.But it is the excitement disabled youngsters bring to the Miracle League that intrigues commentator Frank Deford. The warmest moment I've ever enjoyed in sports came a couple of years ago when a little boy named Nicolas sat on my lap.Nicolas had been born without eyes and was not supposed to live.But now here he was proudly holding on to his own baseball glove.I asked Nicolas if he could sing "Take me out to the ball game" and he immediately lit up and together a duet .We sang it all the way right on down to,"for it's one ,two,three strikes you are out at the old ball game."The reason that I was there with Nicolas in his house and the reason he had his own mitt is that Nicolas plays baseball too.He plays in what is known as the Miracle League.It all started eight years ago when a man named Adley Baguare in Cannyns, Georgia in R.County outside of Atlanta was coaching a tea ball team and saw a little boy in a wheelchair on the sideline,wistfully watching his healthier friends play ball.Mr.Baguare eventually not only asked the boy in the wheelchair to play but let some other people in town to invite all children with disabilities to come out to the little League park one day.35 handicapped kids showed up.That was more than anybody expected.So then more neighbours began to get interested as the local rotary club Deen Alford, a former state represetative led the way to build the whole ball park especially for handicapped children. What was so needed was artificial turfs so that the children could move more easily with their clutches so that their wheelchairs would not get caught in ruts.Incredibly the donations poured in and soon the whole park was built for 1 million dollars.It opened in the spring of 2000 with 62 disabled kids in attendance.They called it the Miracle League. The rules are simple.Any boy or girl who is not blessed with the wholeness of body or mind could play.Everybody gets the bat and everybody gets to hit the ball one way or another.And everybody gets to run the bases or anyway, wheel the bases.Not only that but every player in the Miracle League is escorted by a healthy child who is called a buddy.I've met some of the buddies too.Maybe they gain as much from the Miracle League as the players themselves.It's good for children to learn firsthand that they are but for the grace of God,go I to first base. Five years later and wonderfully the Miracle League is a national institution.There are now 16 rubberized fields,63 more are under construction and the ground will be broken for 29 more this year.Several major league teams have pitched in.The cost of building a field,making a miracle,is down to 450 thousand dollars.The worst thing about being a child who is sick or disabled is being sick or disabled.The second worst thing for that child is being different.Now it's baseball time again and this season 10,000 children won't be so different.They will be on the team in the Miracle league.They will be playing a game just like all their luckier friends.Ah,it's a new season.Take me out to the ball game.But the best part of it in all parts of America now is that when the cry goes up:"Play ball",ten thousand more boys and girls can play. The comments of Frank Deford ,senior contributing writer at Sports Illustrated.He joins us each Wednesday from member station WSHU in Ph.D. |
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