- Tommy Sherman warms up his arm on the sidelines of the Walker-Grant Middle School field during a playoff game.

'This is like my second home,' Tommy Sherman said about the Falmouth Fire and Rescue station, where he volunteers as a paramedic. Tommy Sherman warms up his arm on the sidelines of the Walker-Grant Middle School field during a playoff game.

- Tommy Sherman warms up his arm on the sidelines of the Walker-Grant Middle School field during a playoff game.

- Tommy Sherman warms up his arm on the sidelines of the Walker-Grant Middle School field during a playoff game.

Area pitcher, paramedic overcomes disability

Date published: 9/5/2006

baseball, there are two kinds of pitchers: the strikeout pitcher and the control pitcher.

The strikeout pitcher is the flashy kind. The kind that throw fast balls at record speeds. The kind that end up in the hall of fame.

Tommy Sherman is not that kind of pitcher.

He's the kind who limps to the field. The kind who throws at two speeds: slow and slower.

But it turns out that in baseball it's not just the fast pitchers who are successful. There's room for the slow, brainy, tricky pitchers, too.

That's why Sherman, 19, says the pitching mound gives him the even playing field he rarely finds in real life.

Sherman has cerebral palsy. He was 3 when his parents, both baseball nuts, found out about the disability.

"You just naturally assume that when you have a child who has a problem with the way they walk or the way they move their body that sports are the last thing they'll do," said Sherman's mother, Susan Sherman.

But Sherman never doubted he'd be a baseball player. His father coached Sherman's cousin Chuck Shackleford on a Little League team, and Sherman became the batboy.

When he was 5, he insisted on playing T-ball. For years, he played and his dad coached.

But when Sherman went to high school, his parents assumed his baseball days were over.

"Not because we had a lack of confidence in Tommy, but because we had a lack of confidence in the coaches," Susan Sherman said.

Would a coach pick a player who could pitch well but whose running skills were described as "not pretty" by his own mother?

But again, Sherman's parents assumed wrong, and Sherman pitched at James Monroe High School.

He missed one season his sophomore year, after he had surgery on his right leg. Sherman still showed up at each game, his leg in a bright orange cast with black signatures--the team colors for JM.

Last year, Sherman graduated and, again, his parents thought his baseball career would end.

But, again, Sherman surpassed their expectations, landing a place on a local, semipro team, Meadows Farms.

And then he came to his parents with a new request. Sherman wanted to be a paramedic.

They had reservations.

What is cerebral palsy? Cerebral palsy describes a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement and muscle coordination. It is caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually before, during or immediately after birth or sometime in infancy. People with the condition have trouble controlling coordination and the use of muscles. There are different types of cerebral palsy, and the disorder varies in severity. Early signs are developmental delays, such as late sitting, crawling, smiling and walking, and abnormal muscle tone. There is no cure for the condition, but some treatments help. For more information, visit ucp.org --information compiled from the United Cerebral Palsy Web site.

Date published: 9/5/2006