More than 80 children and adults filled the community room of the Southeast Branch Library on Wednesday afternoon to see Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis, and Hall of Fame radio broadcaster and voice of the Texas Rangers Eric Nadel. The two attended in support of the library's Summer Reading Club, a program which the Rangers have supported for many years in Arlington and other North Texas communities.
Nadel read Nancy Chumin's picture book The William Hoy Story: How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game, a story about how the hand signals that are part of baseball came to be incorporated into the sport after William Ellsworth Hoy lost his hearing and had to figure out how to understand the umpire's calls. Nadel said that this year their focus during these storytime visits has been on sharing books about the differences that exist among people.
Lewis then answered questions from the young audience members, including 'are you ever afraid of being hit by the ball?' (yes), 'what's your favorite uniform color?' (blue), and 'when did you start playing baseball?' (age 4). Lewis, who's been recovering from an injury, said he expects to be pitching again by the end of August.
Following the storytime and questions, Nadel and Lewis gave autographs and took photographs with the children and their families.
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