Big League thrill
Mike Sciacca
Vic Allen didn’t need to see home plate to know that he had thrown a
strike.
The crowd’s cheers at Edison International Field of Anaheim let
the blind athlete from Huntington Beach know that he had successfully
found his target.
“It was awesome,” said the 46-year-old who threw out the first
pitch at last week’s Texas Rangers-California Angels game.
Angels utility player, Benji Gil, caught the pitch from Allen who
won the honor in a raffle.
“I could hear the crowd cheering me on,” Allen said. “There were
30-some people that I knew who came to see me and I could hear them
screaming for me in the crowd. Then, as soon as I heard the words,
“let’s play ball,” that was my cue to throw out the first pitch.
“I started yelling toward Benji to find out where he was, and he
answered me back, telling me just where he was. Then, it went dead
silent. It was like everything was in slow motion. I just reared back
and fired the ball.”
The pitch, Allen was told, was “perfect.”
Gill in fact, didn’t move his glove.
A longtime Angels fan, Allen says he’s rooted for the
Anaheim-based team for more than 40 years, suffering, he said, along
with the franchise as it toiled through several years of futility.
He was also with the team -- although a bit removed -- when it
celebrated its most successful season in 2002 by winning its first
World Series championship.
“I wasn’t in the ballpark for that title-clinching game of the
World Series, I was in the parking lot, rooting them on and
celebrating with other fans,” Allen said. “That’s as close as I could
get to the stadium without having a ticket to the game.”
But last week, he was just wasn’t in the stadium, he was the
center of attention on the playing field.
Allen threw out the first pitch with his seeing companion, Zeke, a
10-year-old yellow Labrador by his side.
His son, Vic Jr., 18, guided Allen to the mound and squared him
toward home plate. Several Texas Rangers players were so impressed
they stood, clapped and some shouted, “sign him up, sign him up.”
“I could hear them from the mound and it was just awesome,” he
said. “This certainly was a once-in-a-lifetime deal for me.”
Allen’s big thrill came about when he attended an Angels World
Series luncheon on the opening day of the season. He had spent $25 on
a ticket for a chance at the grand prize -- throwing out the first
pitch at an Angels game.
“It was like hitting the jackpot,” Allen said. “I was about to
leave the luncheon, thinking I didn’t win it, when they called out my
name. Needless to say, I was stoked.”
Allen, a 1974 Marina High graduate, lost his sight nine years ago
due to a medical mishap that involved a bad contact lens, he said.
He had previously punctured both eyes in a car accident at age 28,
losing the sight completely in one eye.
While at the San Diego Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired,
Allen, who had run track and cross country at Marina, learned again
to ski.
“I had skied my whole life but when I was told about this, I said,
‘blind people race on skis, too?’” he saidAllen, a father of five,
has never been impaired by his blindness; in fact, he’s quite open
and good-natured about it.
“I enjoy it -- except not being able to drive,” he said, adding
with a chuckle, “everything looks good to me.
“Actually, you’ve got to have a sense of humor about something
like this, instead of giving up. I guess it has gotten to me at
times, like waiting for the bus, but I get along just fine.”
He met his wife, Tammy, when he hired her to be his personal
driver.
“We started dating shortly thereafter and that was it,” said the
quick-witted Allen. “By marrying her, I didn’t have to pay her
anymore.”
Tammy Allen drove her husband to the stadium for his first pitch
experience.
“It never ceases to amaze me what he can do,” she said. “He’s got
a backbone made of steal. He’s very aggressive, highly competitive
and tenacious. For him, losing his sight just created a new path to
travel.”
Since losing his sight, Allen has skied on the U.S. Blind Ski
Team. He first became the U.S. blind ski national champion in 1999
and has held that title four times, overall.
He’s skied at the 1999 European Championships and won three silver
medals and one bronze.
Allen also has competed in Beep Baseball and played left field for
the West Coast Dogs that won three World Series titles between 1999
and 2001.
Beep Baseball is a form of baseball adapted for the visually
impaired. The game is played with standard baseball bats, a 16-inch
circumference ball with emits an audible beep tone and two bases --
first and third -- which emit an audible buzzing sound.
Each team consists of six players, all of whom are blindfolded to
equalize each player’s degree of visual impairment. Teams also may
use two sighted “spotters” when playing defense and a sighted pitcher
and catcher when batting.
Umpires -- both behind the plate and in the field -- also play an
important role in the game and give verbal commands to assist
players.
“I’ve always loved baseball and being a part of the West Coast
Dogs has been a lot of fun,” Allen said. “It’s been challenging but I
love it.
“I guess if I had to give advice to anybody who is legally blind
or visually impaired, it would be to not give up. It’s a challenge at
first but how you adjust and how you live your life is totally up to
you.”
* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at
(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.
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