When Dylan Heuer was 7 months old, he became deaf from meningitis, and he received a cochlear implant when he was 3. Heuer’s parents learned sign language, and when he played Little League baseball, his dad, Tom, served as his “personal interpreter” at games and practices. Heuer, now a freelance photographer for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, the NBA G League’s Iowa Wolves and Drake University, was a bat boy for the Iowa Cubs during the 2006 season.
After that season, he moved up to the press box and became a freelance reporter for the team for a few seasons. Heuer started in 2015 because children who are deaf or hard of hearing have difficulty accessing Little League. On Thursday the Iowa Cubs, in partnership with Heuer and IBCD, will celebrate Deaf Culture Night at Principal Park in Des Moines.
“This is an important event for the Deaf community,” Heuer told the Tribune, “because it shows that we are here and we are proud of who we are. It shows that the Deaf community is a living and breathing community that has such a deep and rich culture with a beautiful language, its own traditions and so much more. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate our culture with the Iowa Cubs to show that the game of baseball is for everybody, no matter who they are.
We can play, we can cheer, we can boo, we can cry, we can love. We just don’t hear, that’s all.” The Iowa Cubs will wear special jerseys with across the chest to celebrate Deaf culture and the Deaf community.
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