How a local team is breaking barriers and building community through the accessible sport of beep baseball for blind and visually impaired athletes.
Beep baseball is an accessible sport enabling individuals who are blind or visually impaired to play a competitive version of the game. Using sound instead of visual cues, a beeping ball and buzzing bases provide audio to assist players in hitting, fielding and running. Since its debut in the 1960s, beep baseball has evolved into an organized sport with teams competing in regional, national and international tournaments. It offers more than just physical activity by promoting inclusion, teamwork and the opportunity for athletes to challenge themselves in competition.
The San Gabriel Valley Panthers are Southern California’s first competitive beep baseball team. Founded in 2018 by South Pasadena resident Darren Keepers, 37, who was motivated to bring the joys of playing sports to blind and visually impaired people like himself, the Panthers have now grown to more than 15 players and a group of volunteers, including students. For Keepers, beep baseball is not only fun and exciting, but also a way he can compete on an equal stage.
“Beep baseball is freedom,” says Keepers. “It’s one of the few places where I can compete hard, push myself and not be held back by my blindness. And it’s a way to build something bigger than myself, creating opportunities and community for people who are often overlooked.”
Following a set of adapted rules, each beep baseball team has six defensive players on the field, all wearing blindfolds to ensure fairness regardless of their level of vision. The pitcher and catcher are sighted and work closely with the batter, using consistent verbal cues to help time the swing. The ball makes a steady beeping sound, allowing players to track it by ear. In beep baseball, only first and third bases are used. When a batter hits the ball, one of the bases is randomly activated to buzz, signaling the direction the runner must go. A run is scored when batters reach the buzzing base before a defensive player fields the beeping ball.
The Panthers practice throughout most of the year at McDonald Park in Pasadena to maintain their skills and prepare for the National Beep Baseball World Series. “The thing that sticks with me the most about our players is how fearless they are,” says Panthers Coach Colbey Haney. “Beep baseball is much more physical than most people realize. Players are running full speed and tackling a foam base and tumbling to the ground, or they are throwing their bodies on the ground to stop a 1-pound ball rocketing toward them with an arm or leg or stomach or wherever the ball makes contact. It’s absolutely mind blowing when you think about the sheer determination needed to compete in this sport.”
Beep baseball provides a tight-knit community for players, families and volunteers and a space where people feel connected, supported and empowered. As Keepers describes, “Beep baseball gives people a reason to show up, for themselves and for others. I’ve seen players who were shy or uncertain find their voice, footing, confidence, passion and more,” he says. “This sport builds confidence in ways that carry into the rest of life. The connections run deep. Players and volunteers become more than teammates, they become family. Everyone knows they belong, and that kind of bond makes us stronger both on and off the field.”
The Panthers will host a “Dining in the Dark” event on Sat., Oct. 4, in Pomona, in which visually impaired players will lead sighted people through a “dinner in the dark” to raise money for the team to attend the 2026 Beep Baseball World Series. Get tickets $100-$5,000: socalbeepbaseball.org.
Connor Merrihew is an editorial intern at L.A. Parent. A high school senior at Harvard Westlake, he founded 501(c)(3) nonprofit Team Preemie, and his writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter.
