The Sound of Second Chances
Baseball had always been part of Zach Ship’s life.
In high school, he played four years of varsity baseball. At NYU, he kept competing, this time also throwing the shot put and discus. After he graduated college in 2015, work and adulthood pulled him away from baseball for several years, but the game never really left him.
In early May of 2023, everything changed.
Zach first noticed hearing loss. Soon after, he was vacationing in Miami and his vision began to change as well. Lights seemed brighter than normal. Shapes around him blurred. Near the end of May as he and his fiancée Jess traveled to Spain, tingling started in his fingertips and spread through his right arm, torso, and leg.
Zach flew back to New York and spent a week and a half undergoing tests in the hospital. After only a few days, he was reduced to about 10 percent of his vision and 5 percent of his hearing. Then he could no longer move, eat, or function normally.
Doctors ran blood tests, examined his spine, and performed a brain biopsy. Eventually they diagnosed him with encephalitis -- inflammation in the brain. While his hearing eventually recovered, damage to his retina and optic nerve left him legally blind.
For two months, Zach spent three to five hours a day in physical rehabilitation. When he returned to his New York City apartment, he had to relearn ordinary daily skills: using his phone, cooking, crossing the street, and navigating the city. He registered with the New York State Commission for the Blind and received support as he rebuilt his independence.
Eventually, Zach returned to work at Harry’s, a personal care company where he serves as Director of Finance IT. He also began leading the company’s Disability Advocacy Program. But one part of his life still felt missing ... until someone in his building posted about a blind baseball fundraiser.
When Zach responded, that small invitation opened a door he had not expected.
Blind baseball is different from the game Zach grew up playing. There is no pitcher. The batter tosses the ball to themself, hits it with one hand, and runs. The ball makes noise. Bases and coaches provide sound cues. Players wear blindfolds or eye shades so differences in vision are equalized. Fielders listen for the ball, block it with their bodies, and throw by sound and communication.
Not surprisingly, Zach took to the game quickly. In September 2024, he played for Team USA at the WBSC Blind Baseball International Cup at Farnham Park outside London. He became one of Team USA’s top hitters and hit the team’s only home run in that tournament.
For Zach, the game is more than a sport. It is a return, a recovery, and a calling. The field he once thought he had lost became a place where he could compete again, belong again, and help others imagine what is still possible.
This past Sunday, as we reflected on Genesis 22, we remembered Abraham walking up the mountain with Isaac, unable to see how God would provide. Abraham could not yet see the ram in the thicket. He could not yet see the rescue waiting ahead. He could not yet see the larger story God was writing. But God could.
Zach Ship’s story reminds us that we often stand in fields we cannot fully see. We move forward with partial vision, limited knowledge, and unanswered questions. We listen for guidance. We trust the voices that help us find our way. We take the next step before the whole path is clear. And again and again, God meets us there.
So this week, look again. Listen again. Take the next faithful step. The field before you may not look like the one you expected, but God’s plan is larger than what you can see from here.