Who wants to play ball? Alternative baseball team forming in Jacksonville

Beth Reese Cravey, Florida Times-Union
·4 min read
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Growing up, Taylor Duncan and Brandon Bishop always wanted to play baseball. Their respective autism diagnoses limited their options.

Even when Duncan got on teams, coaches gave him little playing time. So in 2013 the frustrated teen established his own team with help from his mother.

"I was a 17-year-old, almost 18, kid who recruited adults off Craigslist because I just wanted to play," he said.

Three years later he founded the nonprofit Alternative Baseball Organization in his home state of Georgia as a developmental baseball program for people ages 15 and up who have intellectual or other disabilities. Now 27, he has established 22 teams in 12 states, including one in Panama City.

Jacksonville is next on the list.

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Taylor Duncan, founder and CEO, Alternative Baseball Organization.
Taylor Duncan, founder and CEO, Alternative Baseball Organization.

"I had always wanted to play traditional sports growing up but was often denied opportunities due to the commonly low perception of what one with autism can and cannot accomplish," he said.

Bishop, now 16, also has autism and has undergone surgery for a brain tumor. Like Duncan, he wanted to play sports, even football, but the rough-and-tumble variety would have been dangerous to his health.

Alternative baseball provided an outlet. He joined the team in Louisville and later the team in Panama City, where his family has a second home. The experience, his mother Beth Bishop said, has been life-changing.

Brandon Bishop, 16, who has autism, is a member of an Louisville alternative baseball team for teens and adults who have intellectual and other disabilities. "It has opened up a whole new world for him," mother Beth Bishop said.
Brandon Bishop, 16, who has autism, is a member of an Louisville alternative baseball team for teens and adults who have intellectual and other disabilities. "It has opened up a whole new world for him," mother Beth Bishop said.

"It has opened up a whole new world for him," she said. "He has met a whole slew of people, opened up another group of friendships. He's gotten way more confident … Lots of cheering and praise, 'Great job, Brandon.' He has his own outlet."

What is alternative baseball?

Alternative baseball is "much different from other 'adaptive' baseball programs because we emphasize personal, social and physical skills growth and development through traditional rules," Duncan said. The goal is "to aid in integrating those with disabilities into their communities," he said.

"Players get to play in a traditional baseball setting free of judgment," according to the website. The teams focus on building skills "through the hands-on authentic experience in all practices and games."

Players do warmup stretches, drills, batting practice, fielding practice and baserunning, with practices tailored to each individual. They use wood bats. Only the ball, a larger, softer version than used in traditional baseball, is adapted.

While living in Louisville, Jim Stecklow (front row, second from left) managed this Alternative Baseball Organization team for teens and adults with intellectual and other disabilities, including Brandon Bishop (middle row, second from right, hands on knees). Now Stecklow is forming an alternative baseball team in Jacksonville.
While living in Louisville, Jim Stecklow (front row, second from left) managed this Alternative Baseball Organization team for teens and adults with intellectual and other disabilities, including Brandon Bishop (middle row, second from right, hands on knees). Now Stecklow is forming an alternative baseball team in Jacksonville.

Professional baseball rules are used, with seven to nine innings. No experience is required, only a fielding glove and a willingness to learn.

Although people with any disability are welcome, the league is designed for players who are "fully able to actively participate on a dirt-grass field," according to the website. "Each player plays independently on the field and must be able to control and swing a wood bat.

"As long as you know your limitations, you're good to go," according to the website.

What about the Jacksonville team?

The local manager is former resident Jim Stecklow, who led the Louisville Danes team before his company transferred him back to Jacksonville. He is a military veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder and a love of baseball.

"I've been playing baseball since I was 4," he said.

Now 52, he has played minor league baseball — on an independent Single A team in Virginia — as well as professional softball for Reebok and on a national military team.

Jim Stecklow helped organize the Louisville Danes, a baseball team for people with disabilities. Now he is organizing a team for the Jacksonville area, hopefully starting in the fall, to play traditional baseball in a "setting free of judgment."
Jim Stecklow helped organize the Louisville Danes, a baseball team for people with disabilities. Now he is organizing a team for the Jacksonville area, hopefully starting in the fall, to play traditional baseball in a "setting free of judgment."

In Louisville his wife saw a television report about the alternative baseball team forming and needing coaches and managers and suggested he volunteer. The team's impact on the players, Stecklow said, "gives me goosebumps."

"It's my passion," he said. "Watching these kids smile and accomplish something they never thought they could do. … Watching them come out of their box, become more social.

"They're superstars," he said.

Stecklow hopes to begin play in Jacksonville in the fall.

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How do you join?

To become a player or a volunteer or to form a new team, go to the alternative baseball website alternativebaseball.org and fill out an application, or call (770) 313-1762. Also, donations can be made via the website.

Stecklow has been recruiting at every opportunity, including holding baseball clinics at the North Florida School of Special Education and the Greenwood School in Jacksonville, which serves middle and high school students with reading difficulties, learning differences or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Alternative baseball team for special needs is coming to Jacksonville