Luke Terry has one arm, but that doesn't stop him from dominating on the baseball field
Young Luke Terry can be seen behind the plate catching for his high school in Tennessee. However, he has a unique way of playing this position. You see, he has just one arm, and in a recent viral video, he showed just how little that matters.
It's important to know, as Tom Kreager of The Tennessean reported last year, that Terry is not on the team because he has one arm. The kid can play, and he can play well. He's one of the top hitters on his team and has become noticed, but most importantly, respected.
Luke had his right arm amputated at 19 months after contracting E. coli.
"They put the PICC line in his arm [to treat the E. coli]," Dana Terry, Luke's mother told The Tennessean. "And the bacteria went to his arm, where the PICC line was. It just started eating his arm away." His mom mentioned Luke had flatlined on the operating table three times.
He would not give up and adjusted rather quickly:
Fourteen-year-old Luke Terry's right arm was amputated when he was 19 months old, but that hasn't stopped him from playing catcher. pic.twitter.com/2Xk3WEZLsX
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 2, 2018
He catches the ball with his glove side (left hand), makes a flip-like motion to release the glove. He then grabs the ball mid-air and swiftly throws it back to the pitcher -- or to a base to get a runner out. Sounds like an endeavor, but he manages to make his craft look effortless.
While Terry's story has become viral, and he's well aware he's being called "an inspiration," he doesn't really think about it. The Orioles invited him as a special guest last season and even former players heard his story.
"This is not a baseball thing," Jerry Hairston, Jr. told MLB.com. "This is a kid that won't allow any type of circumstance to derail his dream. People use the 'no excuses' quote all the time, but this kid lives it."
His teammates, coaches and supporters have surrounded him with words of encouragement, and he shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
