My name is Scott Smith, and I am the GM of the Bluefield Rail Birds, the newest team to join the ABO. In October 2023, I was asked to join a meeting about the possibility of starting an ABO team in the Bluefield Area. I had doubts and concerns. I even said we would be at least 1 year away from forming a team. Just 4 weeks later, we had a name, logo, Facebook page, 2 players, along with a coach and a couple of volunteers.
By March 2024, we had signed up 21 players, 8 coaches, additional volunteers, complete funding for the year, along with building a game schedule for our 1st season. In April 2024, we started practice. We lost 6 players and went from 2 teams to 1 team with the remaining 15 players. At our 1st practice, I told players, coaches, and parents/guardians, "I don't care if we win a game. What we are starting is bigger than the score of a baseball game." We were starting an opportunity. An opportunity through baseball to build friendships, become socially and physically active, develop new skills baseball will teach us not only about the game but also about life. But most importantly, to allow our players to show us WHAT THEY CAN DO, NOT WHAT WE SAY THEY CAN'T DO. That had become a phrase I used when promoting the idea of ABO in our area. Players were ready to show us what they could do. Within 3 weeks (3 Saturday afternoons), players were fielding, throwing, and hitting pitched balls. They made what we thought would be difficult look easy.
The time had come for our 1st game. Players were nervous and excited. After the 1st inning, the nerves went away, but the excitement built. We don't use a scorebook or a scoreboard, only a lineup card so we know who's up next. Runs determine the score in baseball. We used a different method: smiles, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, and pure joy of playing baseball. Players asked, "Are we winning?" Our response has always been the same and will continue to be the same: "If you are having fun playing baseball, yes, you are winning." Runs determine the winner of that game, that day. Not the winning we are doing in life. Only 2 people on our team truly know runs scored: the head coach and me. We never advertise a score from a game. (The Rail Birds have scored the most runs in all 8 games we played this season.) This is only because our players worked hard all summer developing the new skills of baseball at home on their own with a family member or friend. They chose to not only be WINNERS but also win games by runs scored.
Our players have taught us far more than we have taught them in our 1st season. Because of their heart, compassion, and enthusiasm for an opportunity to play a game, baseball, they not only showed coaches and volunteers of the Rail Birds WHAT THEY CAN DO but also our area. Players changed something bigger than a game in our area this season. We no longer say Special Needs; we say Special Abilities. The only need was to be able to show the ABILITIES, which they have, and our area has been impressed.
Personally, I have spent 50+ years in baseball, as a player, coach, volunteer of a local little league, a fan of the game, and now GM of the Bluefield Rail Birds. I have never learned as much about the game as I have this past year. I was wrong a lot in the last year, thinking we would be 1 year away, thinking the physical and mental part of baseball would be a major challenge. The only thing I was right about was providing an opportunity. An opportunity that I hope continues for many years to come so we can continue to learn from Special Abilities baseball players the true meaning of WINNING.
