One-Armed High School Catcher Luke Terry Is a Viral Inspiration

This one-armed high school catcher is the inspirational, viral star 2018 needs.

Luke Terry is a 9th grader at Cornersville High School in Tennessee. When he was only 19 months old, an E. Coli infection forced doctors to amputate his right arm. He required eight surgeries and flatlined three times before doctors got him out of the woods.

Despite this setback, Luke developed a passion for baseball at a young age. He spent years perfecting that move where he pops off the catcher’s mitt to throw the ball back to the pitcher. He was, however, doing all of this in relative anonymity until softball coach Tony Austin posted this video to Twitter.

Austin didn’t even know him. He was filming his “buddy’s son” at bat when he noticed Luke. That video went viral on Twitter. It’s been viewed 7 million times, and has received nearly 100,000 retweets and 300,000 likes. It was even retweeted by LA Dodgers outfielder, Yasiel Puig. And, former baseball and football pro Deion Sanders tweeted —

But this isn’t the first time Major League Baseball teams have noticed Luke. Last year, he spent a day with the Baltimore Orioles and even caught the first pitch during a game.

Now, it’s a tough road to get to the Major League, but there is precedent so it’s not out of the question. Former Angels and Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott played for 10 seasons despite not having a right hand, and Pete Gray played for the St. Louis Browns in 1945 despite losing his right arm in a childhood accident.

Still, Luke even has competition from other kids in his situation. Last year, 11-year-old Keenan Briggs hit his first Little League home run despite not having a right arm.

For Luke, he tries to take all this attention in stride. Last year, he told The Tennesseean: “I don’t even think about it. Fans tell me, ‘You’re an inspiration.’ They want me to go a long ways.” And we have a feeling he might.

Remember Jim Abbott, the former pro one-handed pitcher we told you about? Well, he tweeted about Luke too. He wrote —

Do you think Luke Terry has a shot at the Major Leagues? Let us know in the comments.

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