On August 19, 2018, at the Pelicans Baseball Stadium, a special event was held: It was ASL Night. ASL is the abbreviation for American Sign Language.

The baseball game started at 7:30pm, but prior to this at the game, there was a brief Sign Language class and Q&A session with former baseball player Curtis Pride who is deaf. Since my dad is hard of hearing, we took this opportunity to learn a few things about the community and possibly get the chance to meet someone famous!

The session was an hour long. They talked about the history of ASL and some basic knowledge that is good to know when communicating to those who are hard of hearing. We were also taught the Sign Language alphabet and some gestures of the plays for the game that night.

After the ASL class was over, former player Curtis Pride came out to answer questions from the crowd.

Pride was born deaf on December 17, 1968 in Washington D.C.. He had grown up playing sports his whole life such as soccer, basketball, and of course, baseball. During college he was drafted for the minor leagues while studying for a finance major. And by the time he graduated, he was offered to play baseball as a full time as a career.

His biggest challenge of playing baseball while deaf was communicating with his teammates. Pride always had to be aware of what was happening because “being deaf” could have easily been taken as an excuse.

When asked how his first major league hit felt, he replied, “It was incredible because instead of hearing the crowd, I felt them. It gave me goosebumps; I will never forget it.”

Pride was delighted when the Pelicans wanted to organize an ASL night.

“It makes the deaf community feel more inclusive, and he thanks the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for hosting it,” Pride added.

The former baseball player is now the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University. Aside from that he has a family with two children.

One piece of advice Pride has for people is, “Do not listen to others expectations. Make a list, set goals, and accomplish them.”

ASL Facts:

• ASL is most used by deaf people in Canada and the United States.
• Approximately 90 percent of Deaf people marry a spouse who is also deaf.
• To get the attention of a Deaf person, you should tap him/her on the shoulder.
• If your path is blocked by two signers conversing, you should go ahead and walk through. It is not distracting, deaf people teach this.
• In general, the least effective communication strategy between Deaf and hearing people is speech and lipreading.
• Deaf people do not clap; they simply throw up their arms and do jazz hands.