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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine Q UA L I T Y O F L I F E "In fact the pitch after me was a sur- vivor of the Lewiston shooting, which made it feel even more personal," he says. e team auctioned off a special jer- sey — in the team's retro teal and auto- graphed by players— with S-E-A-D- O-G-S spelled in sign language across the front — to raise $400 for Pine Tree Camp Dirigo Experience for hearing- impaired youngsters. Baseball cards and Backstreet Boys For this year's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Night, the first 1,000 fans to walk through the gates received a vintage baseball card in sepia tones. While the solemn-looking ballplayer on the front of the card was unfamil- iar to many, a trio of nonprofit board members were well-versed in William Ellsworth Hoy's contributions to America's favorite pastime. "He was one of the first deaf baseball players and he came up with a lot of the signs that you see in baseball today," Alicia Pieper, a retired teacher of the deaf, says on her way in. Hoy, a cen- ter fielder from Ohio who played with several Major League teams in the late 1800s, is credited with developing the hand signals for "out" and "safe" still used by umpires today. Umpires on the picture-perfect sum- mer night were seeing far more action than many players on the field until the sixth inning, when Sea Dogs infielder Ronald Rosario hit his first triple of the season on two outs to break up a no-hitter and drive in two runs. ough the game ended in a 10-inning loss, the defeat didn't dampen the lively atmo- sphere in the stands. e sections above the third-base dugout were filled with sign-language interpreters from the Pine Tree Society helping deaf fans and boogying to the beat in their seats. ASL interpreter Amy Richardson danced to "Y.M.C.A." with Sea Dogs mascot Slugger and signed to 1999 pop song "I Want It at Way" in a spirited performance worthy of even the most devoted Backstreet Boys fans. ough this was her first time on the Sea Dogs' stage, Richardson says through an interpreter that she's been a fan of the Double-A team as long as they've been around. Her favorite part of the evening, she says, was "connecting with fans and providing access for them." Fellow interpreter Regan ibodeau, who became somewhat of a Maine celebrity during daily televised briefings from Augusta during the pandemic, was also at the ballpark that night, though as a spectator soaking up the atmosphere. "I think it's wonderful because we are out in the public field," she says through an interpreter. "We are here together for two hours and you can't miss us. We're able to make more people aware that we enjoy the same things that they do. We have the same hobbies. We have the same kind of interest in nightlife and day- time, whether we go to the beach or baseball games." Renee Cordes, Mainebiz deputy editor, can be reached at rcordes @ mainebiz.biz Building Stronger Communities Through Collaboration & Innovation SERVICES Engineering, Architecture, Environmental, Survey, Planning LOCATIONS Bangor, Portland, Lewiston, Presque Isle, Machias, Waterville, Saco HALEYWARD.COM H A L E Y WA R D P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Alicia Pieper, Owen Logue and Kathie Marquis- Girard display baseball cards of William Hoy, a prominent deaf player in the late 1800s.

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