Blind baseball player seeks players for proposed Long Eaton team

Long Eaton team proposal

Steve Smith is urging visually impaired people to help establish a blind baseball team in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. The 47-year-old, who plays for Hartlepool Monkeys and Team GB, said the nearest clubs are in Hartlepool, Preston, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.

“The nearest team around here is Sheffield, so we are looking to set a team up in Long Eaton and create our own community,” Smith said.

Players sought for the new club

Smith said an American baseball coach based in Nottingham is willing to help, but the immediate requirement is players. He said the proposed team could also provide a community for people with vision loss, who may be difficult to find.

“I don’t get paid for it but I love playing sports and meeting other visually impaired people,” he said. “You instantly have a connection with everybody because everyone is going through sight loss.”

Smith’s experience with blind baseball

Smith began training with Sheffield Strikers while waiting for white-cane training, which Derbyshire County Council said could take up to a year to access. He received the training in September after a 12-month wait and now plays for Hartlepool Monkeys.

He was also selected for the Team GB blind baseball squad, which won a bronze medal at the Blind Baseball International Cup in Italy in October. The team competed alongside sides from Italy, Cuba, the United States, Czechia and Chinese Taipei before reaching the semifinals.

Vision loss and the next step

Smith has retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye condition that affects the photoreceptor cells responsible for capturing images from the visual field. He was diagnosed as a child, and his eyesight began deteriorating significantly in October 2024. The condition has left him blind and unable to drive or continue working as a mechanical engineer.

The reported proposal remains at the recruitment stage. No playing date, league affiliation or completed squad was disclosed; Smith said the immediate next step is finding players.