{"id":1618,"date":"2026-07-24T13:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:23:01","slug":"born-without-a-right-hand-britt-apgar-is-set-to-play-in-the-womens-professional-baseball-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1618","title":{"rendered":"Born without a right hand, Britt Apgar is set to play in the Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/0d3937b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4920x3278+0+1\/resize\/980x653!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F49%2F7a%2F61b04d3d924346eaf27f9a71d9f9%2F3c2c0fd50da54efd8ec35501a979aa67\" width=\"100%\" \/><small>Brittany Apgar, who was born without a right hand, practices at a field in Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday, July 22, 2026 before joining the Los Angeles team in the Women&#8217;s Pro Baseball League. (AP Photo\/Chuck Burton)<\/small><\/p>\n<p>2026-07-24T10:00:07Z<\/p>\n<p>Britt Apgar was born with a limb difference. She had a small right forearm, half of a palm and no fingers on her right hand.<\/p>\n<p>On her way to 12 surgeries by the age of 4, she was taught two lessons by her parents that never left her. Two principles that she carried all the way to the Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom said I am never allowed to use my hand as an excuse,\u201d Apgar said. \u201cLike if I wanted to do the monkey bars, we were out there figuring out how to do the monkey bars, and they taught me how to tie my shoes before I even went to preschool. So that way I was never, like I never felt weird or different around the kids. And my dad &#8230; if I wanted to do anything, he wanted me to put my heart into it like 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Family is at the center of Apgar\u2019s journey to the WPBL\u2019s inaugural season this summer in Springfield, Illinois, pitching and playing the outfield for the Los Angeles Queens. The family she was born into \u2014 her parents, Tommie and Tom, and her older brother, Zach \u2014 and the family she picked up along the way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always and will probably forever describe her like this: She is sunshine,\u201d said Courtney Jamison, one of Apgar\u2019s closest friends.<\/p>\n<h2>Baseball, softball and dropping out of college<\/h2>\n<p>Apgar bats right-handed, resting the bat on the flat part of the nub on her right arm. She uses her left hand and arm to pull the bat on a swing while the nub guides it through the zone.<\/p>\n<p>When she pitches, Apgar rests her glove on her nub and keeps it down near her waist so she can quickly move it to her left hand after she finishes her motion. When she catches a ball in the outfield, she turns her glove inside before taking it off and grabbing the ball to throw it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt sounds like a lot, but it\u2019s really quick, I swear,\u201d Apgar said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a process she practiced and perfected in the sunshine of North Carolina. Apgar, 22, was born in Farmville near East Carolina University, and she grew up playing in the fields near her home.<\/p>\n<p>    <a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- AP \"Read More\" embed (place mid-article) --><\/p>\n<p>  <button type=\"button\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><br \/>\n    Read More <span aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\n  <\/button><\/p>\n<p>Her father and brother would throw in the yard, and she fell in love with the pop of the baseball landing in their gloves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to make that sound, too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>While Zach was content to just play catch, Britt wanted to do everything. Tom studied former major league pitcher Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand, and taught his daughter how Abbott fielded his position.<\/p>\n<p>When the family moved to Greensboro, Britt continued to play. She made the junior varsity squad as a freshman in high school, but the coach told her he couldn\u2019t keep her on the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe pulled me to the side and said, \u2018Hey listen, I think you\u2019re a great player, but you\u2019re just never going to be big and strong enough to play with my guys. And we get changed on the bus, we get changed behind dugouts at the field, and I just can\u2019t have that interfering with the team chemistry and stuff,\u2019\u201d Apgar recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Apgar started crying and walked off the field. She switched to softball, and she played all the way through one full season at Greensboro College.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of weeks into her sophomore year, she quit. She liked playing softball, but she didn\u2019t like the atmosphere around the team, and it wasn\u2019t baseball.<\/p>\n<p>She transferred to North Carolina-Greensboro and got a job at a gym. When Tommie \u2014 a factory worker \u2014 broke both of her legs in an accident at home, she dropped out of college and started working full-time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPut my head down, worked a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Apgar thought she was done with baseball. But it turned out baseball wasn\u2019t done with her.<\/p>\n<h2>Finding a solution to a big problem<\/h2>\n<p>When Apgar hits, the nub catches the impact of contact while the left hand finishes the swing. That becomes an issue when she faces velocity in the upper 70s and low 80s, like what she is going to see this summer in Springfield.<\/p>\n<p>Apgar attended <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wpbl-mlb-red-sox-kelsie-whitmore-mone-davis-364d175af412444b68da84329ae22e4d\">a WPBL camp<\/a><\/span> in March at the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox. Facing left-hander Niki Eckert, she hit a grounder to second \u2014 and knew almost immediately something was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSwung for it, just busted my nub open completely,\u201d Apgar said.<\/p>\n<p>Apgar\u2019s grounder was the third out of the inning, so she was bleeding when she ran out to left field. Wearing a white uniform and concerned about the implications of what happened, she used the back of her glove, her black belt and a sock to hide the blood.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for a solution to her problem against high velocity, Apgar went on <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DX-SfUlvfS3\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/span> and asked for help. She was flooded with responses, including suggestions for foam and prosthetics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven when people didn\u2019t have helpful hints or like tips or tricks, they would just say, \u2018Protect the nub,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Using a batting glove, foam and a hollowed-out part of an old prosthetic, Apgar developed a prototype with some help from Jeff Gardner, a WPBL investor. Gardner, a former scientist who works in generic drugs, became friends with Apgar after they met at the March camp in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Gardner went a step further, reaching out to Chrysta Irolla, the director of prosthetics and orthotics at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you get a personality like Brittany\u2019s, it\u2019s easy to want to help somebody like her,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n<p>Irolla and the hospital are building a prosthetic for Apgar with a gel liner and a hook extension that is designed to fit around the bat and provide a more secure attachment. Doctors used some of the bones in Apgar\u2019s left leg and foot to help strengthen her arm when she was a kid, so the hospital also is creating custom foot orthotics for her with built-in rigid plates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s very open to trying new things. She just wants to perform at the highest level and everything that she can do to get there,\u201d Irolla said. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to have somebody be that open and creative and motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Apgar has no feeling in her nub. During one visit with Irolla, she tried on a prosthetic that mimicked the sensation of touch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was the first time that I had held a bat and it felt like I was holding it with two hands. So I started tearing up,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was such a mind-blowing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The WPBL opportunity, and the training<\/h2>\n<p>Baseball moved back into Apgar\u2019s life more than two years ago, when she saw a post on social media about WPBL tryouts. She put her name in and then forgot about it.<\/p>\n<p>In April 2025, she got an email inviting her to try out at Nationals Park that <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wpbl-tryouts-81fac45dc407adb5dc6d78b3ea81e293\">August<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Apgar said. \u201cI was like, there\u2019s no way this is actually happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, reality set in. She was about to face the best of the best, and she hadn\u2019t played competitive baseball for years.<\/p>\n<p>Following her father\u2019s advice, she went all out with a challenging daily schedule.<\/p>\n<p>She got up at 6 a.m. so she could run and do footwork drills before going to work at 9 a.m. At 3 p.m., she took her lunch break and joined a friend for another run with a weighted vest. She drove to her parents\u2019 home after work, and Tom threw batting practice to her until the sun went down.<\/p>\n<p>Jamison\u2019s boyfriend, Logan Vacharasin, played baseball at Greensboro, and he got Apgar into the college\u2019s facility for more baseball activities at night. Then Apgar would go back to her gym for grueling sessions with Isaiah Manning, a college wrestler.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were nights that he would make me cry in that gym,\u201d Apgar said. \u201cI would be bawling, crying, thinking I couldn\u2019t do it. And he would be like, you\u2019re not leaving until you can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Apgar trained almost around the clock, she was backed by constant support from her parents. And Jamison, who brought her food and told her how proud she was of her. And her girlfriend, Natalie Brewer, who encouraged her to keep going when she was ready to give up. And Vacharasin and Manning. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n<p>There were more than 600 players at tryouts, but Apgar made enough of an impression that she was selected by Los Angeles in the third round of the league\u2019s six-round draft <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/womens-pro-baseball-draft-9172e777c83d1fdcd7cee25aa9cdc99f\">in November<\/a><\/span>. The Queens play their first game of the season on Aug. 1 against New York.<\/p>\n<p>On the day of the draft, Apgar was surrounded by friends and family at Jamison\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had all invested time and effort and energy into me making it and we had all made it at that very moment,\u201d she said, \u201cand so that whole night was just us on top of the world celebrating together. It was so great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Sports: <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/sports\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/sports<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/jay-cohen\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"JAY COHEN\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/fab932d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1231x1231+0+82\/resize\/100x100!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Ff0%2Fd3%2F8ceb467e4516ba4380c83d6a06f0%2Fheadshot-jordan-cohen.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/jay-cohen\">JAY COHEN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Cohen is a national baseball writer and an editor on the AP\u2019s sports desk. Based in Chicago, he also covers hockey, football and basketball, along with international water polo.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a rel=\"noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jcohenap\" target=\"_blank\" data-social-service=\"twitter\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <svg><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>    <span><br \/>\n        twitter<br \/>\n    <\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>                        <a rel=\"noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jaycohenAP\" target=\"_blank\" data-social-service=\"facebook\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <svg><\/svg><\/p>\n<p>        <\/p>\n<p>    <span><br \/>\n        facebook<br \/>\n    <\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brittany Apgar, who was born without a right hand, practices at a field in Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday, July 22, 2026 before joining the Los Angeles team in the Women&#8217;s Pro Baseball League. (AP Photo\/Chuck Burton) 2026-07-24T10:00:07Z Britt Apgar was born with a limb difference. She had a small right forearm, half of a palm and&hellip;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}