More Than Baseball: Building Community Through the Miracle League

Participating in sports is not just about physical prowess. While athletes are celebrated for their strength, speed, and stamina, being part of a sports team is crucial for skills like teambuilding. For disabled players especially, sports are a way to build and maintain community. For Easterseals MORC, their baseball-oriented Miracle League is redefining the inclusivity behind sports.

Whether it’s playing in stadiums or on fields alongside non-disabled peers, individuals partaking in Easterseals MORC’s Miracle League are uniting to not only play baseball, but also to forge lifelong friendships. Director of Awareness and Outreach, Craig Sharum, and Director of Adaptive Recreation, Nick Lionas, explore the importance of the Miracle League, both in terms of competitiveness and creating community spaces for parents and children alike.

Creating Miracles

For approximately 100 years, Easterseals has served Michigan’s disabled residents and families. And throughout Easterseals MORC’s existence, baseball has been integral in providing safe and accessible environments for players. What started as grassroots, backyard games, has since turned into a program that unites players across Michigan, encouraging support from local and statewide businesses, organizations, and even other sports teams. Sharum notes that the Miracle League isn’t just about baseball. Rather, each game provides numerous opportunities for players to set unique goals for themselves and push themselves outside of their comfort zones.

“We’ll see kids with mobility aids at the beginning of the season set a goal for themselves to be able to run the bases without [the aids] at the end of the season, and accomplish that,” Sharum said. “These kids are having so much fun, and they’re getting so much more than baseball out of it that they start to motivate themselves. What starts to happen is they didn’t think they would be able to participate in [baseball], and now they believe in themselves even more.”

For Sharum, the Miracle League represents more than providing opportunities to disabled players. He notes that his grandfather was diagnosed with polio and was unable to participate in sports but loved watching baseball from the sidelines. While he unfortunately passed away several years ago, Sharum explains the Miracle League is for people like his grandfather to finally play in a welcoming space.

“There was a young girl who was blind and her parents came to us, and said, ‘She wants to play really bad, but we have no idea how this is going to work,’” he said. “We had to figure out a way for her to swing the bat and hit. We would clap when she had to swing, and I’ll never forget the look on her face when she felt the ball hit the bat. I remember her parents looking at each other and crying, realizing their daughter was having fun, and did something she set out to do.”

Teamwork On and Off the Field

At its core, the Miracle League embodies the true meaning of sports—teamwork. Easterseals MORC brings together people with various disabilities to bond and play in both competitive and noncompetitive games, and more importantly, to nurture those bonds off the field. Whether it’s baseball, bowling, the newly added Miracle League on Ice, silent disco nights, holiday parties, or even nights out at Detroit Tigers games, players can choose to try new sports or even just stay connected with friends throughout the year. As Nick Lionas mentions, the teamwork on the field directly builds a sense of community after games.

“When you have kids your age on the field, and people you connect with, it’s helpful in building friendships that move along through time,” Lionas said. “Some of the parents connected with other parents around the state with questions like ‘What are you going through right now in second grade? What are you going through with this disability that my child also has?’”

Lionas notes that each event, whether competitive or noncompetitive, is about creating a safe space for disabled individuals and their families. It’s not always about winning, or being the very best, but rather building confidence, social skills, and more importantly, a feeling of belonging. As Lionas explains, last season’s inaugural season in the greater Flint area led to one player’s experience perfectly encapsulating the mission of Easterseals MORC.

“We had one little boy whose parents brought him the first week, and he cried the entire time and wouldn’t step foot onto the field,” he said. “I encouraged the parents to bring him out again. They brought him [the following] week, and he didn’t cry, but he sat in the bleachers and watched. The third week, he got on the field. By the fourth week, he was running the bases as comfortable as he’s ever been, and now he’s been involved in every season since.”

Lionas states that the boy absolutely loves playing, with his parents mentioning that he talks about the League every week. For both Sharum and Lionas, the boy’s story demonstrates the necessity of welcoming spaces for children and parents alike. Being surrounded by like-minded peers in an environment that actively encourages growth, companionship, and community leads to crucial skills off the field. With each year and each new sporting endeavor, Easterseals MORC and the Miracle League are reframing what it means to be part of a community. And as more players, volunteers, and families become aware of these programs, Lionas is hopeful that this will lead to an overwhelming amount of support and interest.

“I want every kid to know that there is a place for them on a sports team, in a sports program, and especially in the Miracle League,” he said. “If there is a single kid that doesn’t know about [the Miracle League], then I have work to do.”