Darnell Booker is General Manager, Vice President and Coach of the Indy Thunder, a blind and visually impaired baseball team that won the 2016 National Beep Baseball World Series for the first time. He recently shared his passion for the national pastime.

"I played for the Indy Eagles in my senior year of high school at the Indiana School for Blind and Visually Impaired. After graduation, I played full-time from 1985 to 2000 and started the Indy Thunder from scratch in January of 2000 and have operated it for 16 years. They were two different teams in the same league. (The Indy Eagles stopped playing in 1991). From 1991 to 1999, I played with different teams across the Midwest and then decided to start my own team. We're a team from Indiana, but are based in Broad Ripple and practice there behind the tennis court. We also practice at Park Tutor and Optimist Park. We won the National Beep Ball World Series in Chicago as the Indianapolis Eagles in 1990, but this is our first World Series Championship as the Indy Thunder. Ron Brown and I were teammates in 1990 and he is a member of this championship team as well," Booker explained.

He described how beep ball is played. "We play our games on a soccer field, with two bases - first and third. The batter and pitcher are on the same team. If the batter reaches the beeping first or third base (activated once they hit the ball) before a fielder retrieves the ball, the batter is safe. There's no throwing in beep baseball. After one of two spotters call a specific zone (area) where the ball is hit, the defense must work together to field the ball."

The Indy Thunder won 11 of 12 games this past season and were undefeated in the post-reason, winning 19 out of 20 games overall. They defeated the Boston Renegades for the National Beep Ball Association (NBBA) Championship. "I'd like to personally thank all of our sponsors who have been supporting us since 2000 and look forward to having a future partnership with them. They include Papa Johns, Bright Ideas, Bosma Enterprises, Sherwin Williams, Kroger, Three Sisters, 56th Street Food Emporium and a lot of private donors. I've been a proud resident of Broad Ripple, having lived in the area since 1996. I'm also a member of the Broad Ripple Village Association and am on Optimists Club Board of Directors. I schedule events in the park for them," he mentioned.

Their 2016 World Series victory was built on recent success. "In 2015, we finished 8th nationally. Our volunteers are mostly from Indiana. We start in January with spring training. Our regular season starts in May with a weekend tournament. In June, the playoffs begin and our season ends the last weekend in July with the World Series. If anybody wants to us to do exhibitions, we can do that after World Series," he said.

"We have indoor practices beginning January 8, 2017 at the 10th Street Sports Center, Xtra Innings, near West 10th and Raceway Road. Practice times are every Sunday from 9 a.m. to Noon until the end of March. Our practices are free and open to the public. We are in Optimist Park on Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and in Broad Ripple Park on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the baseball diamond. After Memorial Day, we practice at Park Tutor on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. We play our games in the outfield of the baseball diamond on a flat surface," he said.

Booker described his personal vision for a field of dreams: "There were three dreams I had several years ago. One, I dreamed about having a team back in 2000 and second, hosting a World Series in Indianapolis. I was part of a committee that eventually hosted a World Series in 2011 with help from Merri Taylor, formerly of Indy Parks and Recreation. I thought, 'Why couldn't Indy host a World Series in 2011?' Third, I dreamed about winning a World Series which we did in 2016. I hope Beep Ball stays around here forever. My two goals include locating a park or field to be a dedicated Beep Ball diamond and finding a partner in the community who could help us by either an in-kind donation of some land for us to play on or to provide some office space for our equipment and have a meeting area with our sponsors and the community. It would be nice to find an existing building and a dedicated, spacious grassy area on the north side of town. We are trying to bring awareness to the sport and have a partnership with the Indianapolis Indians who have really helped us promote our sport and attend our practices this year. Our on-line fundraisers with the Indianapolis Indians start in March. If somebody would like to donate a space, they can e-mail me at: bookerd_23@yahoo.com or call me at (317) 370-7231. We are always seeking volunteers, sponsors and in-kind donations. We have fundraisers throughout the year, like our bowl-a-thon that starts on April 15. Our calendar contains more information at: www.thunderbeepball.org. They can follow us on Twitter at: @thunderbeepball "

After the Indy Thunder's regular season ends, the post-season is in full swing. "We have regional tournaments to prepare for the World Series that takes place at the end of June. We will play at the Dynamo Soccer Field at 91st Street and College Avenue on June 2-4 in 2017. We went to St. Louis, Chicago and Cleveland for the regional tournament that prepared us for the World Series this year. Next year, the National Beep Ball World Series is in West Palm Beach, Florida. Our goal is to have about 30 people to travel there and our budget is $35,000 to travel to the regional tournaments and to the World Series. They can call me for more information. The Indy Thunder is a non-profit organization. Everything is voluntary. We don't get paid. I just do it for the love of playing the game. One day you have a dream. We have a lot of youth and adults (veterans) on our team that range in age from 15 to 60. When we won the World Series, we had the youngest team ever to start in a championship game. Five of our starters are 20 years old and younger. In sports, you definitely have to have that mix of youth and veteran leadership. To see it come together like this is pretty amazing. About 99 percent of our team is from the state of Indiana in places like Gary, Evansville, Shelbyville and the greater Indianapolis area. The comradery of the players of various ages working together as they develop social and leadership skills makes a unique team. A lot of our athletes are economically challenged or on a fixed income," he noted.

The Indy Thunder are the Hoosier state's boys of summer who are playing in a field of dreams now making reality.