Sports and Recreation for Those with Lower Limb Amputation or ...

Baseball
Many individuals with amputa- or ad,
tion play baseball . Some have all,
played successfully on the samL
teams with able-bodied players . c "o
Two notable examples are the fa- Recreational Edf
moos Bert Sheppard who follow- University of loy
ing a below-knee amputation went Iowa City,
on to successfully pitch for the tzt~t ~~a
Washington Senators, and Monte
Stratton who pitched for the Chicago
White Sox after an aboveknee
amputation.
While those people with belowknee
amputation who are interested
in baseball might be able to
play any of the positions on the
team, they generally achieve the
greatest mastery playing pitcher
or first baseman since these positions
require somewhat less agility
than the other positions . A thigh
corset/side joints prosthesis is
best suited for this activity, and
then the sports enthusiast can return
to the PTB (patellar tendonbearing)
socket for ordinary use.
The person with above-knee
amputation faces an even greater
challenge and thus is usually better
off playing infield . Catcher, for
example, is a particularly difficul
position to play since the catcher
must be able to get down on his
haunches with his artificial li
extended out to the side . Then,
or she must be able to get
quickly to throw the ball . As fc
batting strategy, the sound let
should be positioned behind to facilitate
a good push toward firs
base. After reaching first base,
some select a substitute runner to
continue the rest of the way, while
many others proceed to home
plate independent of any ass's
tance (Fig . 1) .
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