User:Justin.lorenzo/Alternative Baseball

Founder
In 2016, The idea of Alternative Baseball originated in Dallas, Georgia by Taylor Duncan, a young man on the autism spectrum. Taylor always wanted to play sports growing up, but was often denied opportunities due to the commonly "low perception" of what one with autism can and cannot accomplish. Duncan said as he got older, there were fewer opportunities to play the sport he loved with coaches deeming his disability as a safety issue. Duncan believed that once younger people with disabilities graduate from high school, opportunities can completely disappeared and believed that there had to be more services not only to play sports but to continue learning life skills. 

With Duncan's experiences in baseball and softball across the Southeast region, Taylor decided it was time to give those opportunities to other teens and adults just like him to play in a traditional baseball setting free of judgment. Instead it is used focus on physical and social skills growth through hands-on authentic experience in all practices and games. Some of the players have since taken their skills to apply into other areas in life off the baseball diamond, including in the work field as well.

Determined to create his own path in 2016, Duncan founded the Alternative Baseball Organization. This is a non-profit developmental program that provides teens and adults with autism and other special needs the opportunity to play real baseball under MLB rules and with real competition. 

Rules
For his league to be official Duncan needed players who were at least 15 years old and volunteers willing to make competitive games happen for those without other teams close by. Players can have any or no experience in baseball to participate. The baseball games are played using the original version of the Professional Baseball Rules. Many games are played between 7-9 innings. Players pitch and catch behind the plate in Alternative Baseball. With most of the rules figured out Duncan was still missing one thing, field dimensions.

Duncan needed a field for practices and games, a field where the basepaths were 90 feet apart and the pitcher’s mound was exactly 60 feet and six inches from home plate. These are the official measurements for the MLB. He needed equipment for his players like helmets and wooden bats. The only adjustment Duncan decided to add was the size of the ball. The ball had to larger and softer to prevent injuries, since this would be a fully player pitch league.

One of the more difficult parts of this league would be finding umpires (baseball referee) that would conduct these rules of the ball for this specific league. This tends to be difficult with the strictness of an umpire and how the game should be "properly play", although it is only the ball that is switched. Duncan would find Umpire Vanderpoel and offered him $50 a game, while the game was only about 2 hours long. Vanderpoel gave Duncan an answer he didn’t expect. Rather than charge him the usual $50 per umpire, Vanderpoel said he would provide them for free. 

Alternative Baseball Commences
By spring of that year, all of the pieces that Duncan needed to start the league were in place. The inaugural season allowed every player with a disability a chance to learn how to swing a bat, throw a baseball and catch using a baseball glove while also learning how to run the bases. Players with autism and other special needs started taking part in the Alternative Baseball experience. They were gradually growing confidence and grew in their social skills as well, while being embraced by a supportive community and given the opportunity to be the best they could be.

Lifetime Opportunity
Duncan realized his dream had become reality, Alternative Baseball was born, and what followed was something no other baseball program that has people from ages 15 an up has done. Duncan was able to get into contact with Brian Snitker, the manager for the MLB team the Atlanta Braves. Snitker would invite Duncan and the entire Alternative Baseball roster to Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia to play their All-Star game in 2018. The competitive All-Star contest would go into extra innings. Duncan reflected on his journey, he knew three years ago that this was his goal, to provide those like him with an opportunity to participate in an authentic baseball experience.