Madison College Baseball Player Sees the Game in a Special Way

MATC Freshman Leads Team Despite Being Blind In 1 Eye
Vavra Considers Injury Obstacle; Teammates Call Him Inspiring

Channel 3000/WISC-TV
Thu May 20, 2010 10:04 a.m. | MADISON, Wis.

Baseball purists will often say to be a good hitter, you need to have a good eye at the plate. But Madison Area Technical College freshman Tanner Vavra has only one good eye. After a childhood injury, he became blind in one eye, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing his baseball career.

Vavra's plate discipline can be traced back to his childhood and growing up around the game.

"I always tell him that he should be the best hitter in junior college baseball because his dad's the Minnesota Twins hitting coach," said teammate Justin Scanlon.

Tanner's dad is Joe Vavra, a man with more than 20 years experience coaching in the minor and major leagues. Now in his fifth season with the Twins, where he's tutored hitters like American League batting champion Joe Mauer.

"I take it as a gift," said Tanner Vavra. "It's the best situation you can have, loving the game that I do. Having (my dad) in professional baseball, you see how things are done right, see how to carry yourself, see how the game is supposed to be played, what it's supposed to look like."

But looks can be deceiving. Just ask his coach and teammates.

"The reason why I recruited him in the first place is because he looked like he had really good temperament," said coach Mike Davenport. "He could handle some struggles. He would dig in for a challenge. You could just tell that by the way he played."

"When the sunglasses go on, you can't tell," said teammate Brett Sweger. "No. If an outsider came in and didn't know who Tanner Vavra was, and saw him with the (sunglasses) on and saw him playing second base, or saw him taking (batting practice), you would never be able to tell that he's had that obstacle at all. He's just one of the guys."

"When I first noticed that he had one eye, I had no idea until the third or fourth practice of the year, to be honest," said Scanlon. "I heard about it one day, like 'Hey, do you know about that kid? He's got one eye.' I was like 'No, what are you talking about?'"

To understand Tanner's story you have to go back to a family fishing trip when he was three years old. His dad, while fishing, told Tanner to hold on to his dad's belt loop, but Tanner let go to run toward the car where his mom and younger brother were. "My dad went back to cast before I had left and when he came forward with it," said Tanner, "the fish hook tore across my right lens and ripped it in half. I remember waking up in the hospital. My dad said it had spun me around and I fell in the water."

After several surgeries and years of therapy, Tanner regained vision in his right eye, but another accident when he was 10 years old left him blind in that eye. At a birthday party, he was poked in the eye playing football. The injury detached his retina, and doctors told him he'd probably never be able to play sports or drive a car because of a lack of depth perception.

"My parents just told me that life isn't fair," said Tanner. "They had a hard time with it because we worked for seven years to get that sight back and to just have it gone in one night, that's tough."

But Tanner said his parents wouldn't accept the prognosis.

"They would have had a hard time keeping me off the field," said Tanner. "So they just pushed me. I never really struggle with it. My body adapted to it and just kept playing. They were really supportive, and never told me I couldn't do anything that I had decided I could do."

Before attending Madison College, Tanner was a three-sport athlete for Menomonie High School, playing football, hockey and baseball. For the Wolfpack, he usually bats lead-off, and leads the team with a .424 batting average.

"It's absolutely amazing just hearing him talk," said Sweger. "He says it's not a disability. Tanner, it's absolutely a disability, but to him it's just an obstacle. It's something that he's going to overcome. To have that mindset, and that kind of determination, is pretty incredible."

"I don't look at anything I've done as an impossible feat by any means," said Tanner. "When other little kids have something similar happen to them, I don't want them to give up hope, and say I can't do this because doctors are telling them 'I can't,' because really, anything's possible."

So next time you're watching a baseball game, think about Tanner Vavra. Remember that old saying about good hitters needing a good eye? Nobody ever said you need two.  

*To see the video version of this story...click here.