You’re rounding third and you’re coming home, and the sunshine and your fans are going…and life is good. And all of us have probably done that at one time or another, many times. But it’s a group of kids out there, kids of all ages really, who’ve not had the opportunity to do that. These are kids with disabilities, or they could be mental, or physical, but while we’re out there playing, they don’t oftentimes get a chance to go out there and join us. So what options do they have? Well, you know, they can do the video games, right? Those are pretty nice. They’re good, but it’s not the same as rounding and third and heading home, or they might go out to a pro game, or maybe support a family member, or maybe somebody in the neighborhood. So they’re getting their vitamin D but they’re not hearing the cheers, as again, they’re rounding third and coming home.
Now, there’s an organization out there that has solved this problem, and they’re called The Miracle League of Las Vegas. There’s their website right here, and I believe it is run by angels. What these guys have done is they’ve come up with this million-dollar baseball complex that has been specifically designed for kids with disabilities. Again, kids of all ages. So I had a chance to go out there a little while ago and shoot some video. I wanna share that with you now, and tell you a little bit more about The Miracle League. Jacob, if you please.
So what you’re seeing there is a buddy. Everybody who’s wearing one of those little blue vests is a buddy, and they’ve been trained to first make sure that the player is in a safe environment, and second, make sure that they’re having a good time, that the game is about them. So, if a baseball is hit to a buddy, they hand it to a player, and what you’re seeing here is… Well, you can’t see part of it. There is a team out in the field, and then a team up here batting. And as you can tell, there’s a wide variety of capabilities here. You’ll see kids who can run and hit. You’ll see kids who are in wheelchairs. You’ll see some pretty smart ideas. Look at this young man right here in a wheelchair, but he figured out how to hit the ball himself, and I love this guy coming up here. He was a big hit in the stadium there. If you wanna see pure joy, look at that face. This could have been the first time he’s ever had a chance to play a little bit of baseball, and besides going into his first same young man coming home.
Everybody hits in The Miracle League. Everybody gets to first, second, third. Everybody rounds third with the crowd yelling at them and coming home. So there’s music going on in the background. There’s fun sound effects going on in the background. It’s really an interesting time. This young man here completely blind and I could hear him doing his own play-by-play, and even if you’re a fan of AC/DC, everybody scores at The Miracle League.
So what’s the magic behind this? Well, it’s the field. If you look carefully, it’s a rubberized baseball field, and if I zoom in here, you’ll see it’s kind of bumpy which makes it great for kids in wheelchairs, right, easy traction. And if you fall over, it’s kind of a bouncy thing. So you kind of bounce right up. The environment there is really sweet.
Here’s a couple of shots of players and buddies just hanging out, taking it easy, enjoying themselves. Every game is two innings in between each inning, well, we sing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” and do a little chicken dance, and I am not a chicken dance guy, but I must say after a while I think I’m pretty good at it. So that’s The Miracle League. If you look at the score, you’ll notice it says it’s 10 to 3. That was actually halfway through the game. Every game also ends in a tie.
So Miracle League, how do you get involved? Well, there’s a couple of ways. You can volunteer your time working the concessions, do other kind of volunteer as well, or be a buddy. Now, you have to do some training. Again, they teach you how to ensure safety for the kids…excuse me, and also make sure it’s all about them, but there’s other ways that you can get involved from a financial perspective.
So they have sponsorships. So they have pavers, little bricks around the complex so you can put your company name, or a person name on a paver or you can sponsor an outfield fence just like the big leagues, right? You can see out there. You can sponsor a team, a dugout, a batter circle, or the players club as well, and besides the sponsorship capabilities, they also have donations. Now, this is a 401 or 501(c) non-profit. So all the things that you provide to them, all the money that you send to them is tax deductible. So what kind of donations? Well, you can do cash gifts. You can do deferred gifts, a real estate appreciated securities, in-kind gifts, and planned giving. So they make it super easy for you to reach out to these guys and help.
So once again, Miracle League of Las Vegas is the organization, miracleleaguelasvegas.com is their website. You know, go check them out, support these folks and especially if you know of somebody who should be a player, who you think wants to feel the sun beating down as they round third and head home, and have a crowd full of people cheering them on. Go check them out. All right, that’s it Miracle League. Now, I think it’s a good time…