Landis Sims (28) is a typical PLNU college freshman. He’s still getting used to the workload from his professors, adjusting to living thousands of miles away from his Indiana roots and learning the ins and outs of actually taking care of himself.
Then there are some ways he’s “not so typical.” Sims was born limb deficient, with no hands or legs below his knees. He can hit a mean curveball and strike out the best of them. Plus, he has signed one-day contracts with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres — none of his classmates can claim that.
“Walking around campus some days is brutal,” Sims says. “Because it’s so many hills, so many stairs. A lot of people, I think, don’t really pay attention to it, but walking up that hill [from Klassen Hall] at eight in the morning is…” He blows out a puff of air. He’s tired just thinking about it.
His journey to Point Loma was unexpected. While on a California visit as a high schooler, Sims was dead-set on attending nearby San Diego State until a conversation with Padres assistant general manager Josh Stein suggested he glance at PLNU. He toured SDSU and loved it so much that he almost canceled his tour at Lomaland the following day. But once he and his family parked atop the Greek Amphitheater and stepped out to see the view, he was speechless.
It doesn’t hurt that Point Loma’s Carroll B. Land field was recently dubbed “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark.” Sims loves baseball. As a 6-month-old, he gravitated towards any sport with a ball — especially basketball, volleyball, and baseball. But ever since his grandma bought him a plastic tee-ball set from a neighbor’s yard sale when he was 2 years old, he’s been hooked. He started playing in youth leagues at 4.
“He was barely able to run at that point with his prosthetics, but he just loved being part of a team and having that experience,” Landis’ mom, Amanda Sims Wolfe, said. “Physical therapy for him was playing sports. That’s how he got so good with walking and running. It was because he had this passion for sports.”
When asked what specifically about the game of baseball he fell in love with, Sims said, “Part of it was just because it was so difficult — trying to always work to get better. There’s always so much failure, but then, when there is success, it just feels so good.
“That related to my life as a kid because trying to learn how to do simple things, like eating with a fork. Without having hands, it’s not the most simple. But there’s failure with that. Once you figure it out, it’s great. ‘I can eat now’… It related to my everyday life.”
Growing up playing Little League Baseball as a quadruple amputee, Sims got used to the spotlight. He was the subject of a documentary, Landis: Just Watch Me (currently available on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and AppleTV), where cinematographer Eric Cochran followed Sims’ journey for eight years — ages 8 to 16 — as he competed in the sport and tried out for his high school’s varsity team. Cochran connected him to Bob Babbitt, the co-founder of the Challenged Athletes Foundation. CAF provides support and opportunities for people with physical disabilities, like Sims, to pursue an active lifestyle, such as sports. Babbitt was an executive producer of the film.
“They’ve just really taken care of me,” Sims says about the San Diego-based foundation. “They’ve taken me from being in old, really bad prosthetics and hitting with my bat tucked under my arm to having really, really high-tech prosthetics and having an attachment [on my arm] that allows me to swing normally. They’ve also given me this giant family of other challenged athletes to be able to learn from, get to know, and share life experiences with.”
In the documentary, you see this transformation unfold. His prosthetics technology catches up to his work ethic. His friendships blossom with stars like Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove and New York Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez. Spoiler alert: He does make varsity, and in his senior year, he was an IHSAA Regional Champion.
“They’ve just really taken care of me…They’ve also given me this giant family of other challenged athletes to be able to learn from, get to know, and share life experiences with.”
Sims says at the beginning of filming, he was a kid admiring other amputee athletes, like five-time Paralympic medalist Rudy Garcia-Tolson. By the end, he had someone looking up to him, mirroring his every move: Chase Merriweather, a teenage multi-sport-quad-amputee athlete. Sims paid it forward through mentorship, which has always been his mission. As Sims threw out the celebratory first pitch at the Philadelphia Phillies game to promote the film, Merriweather was right there, cheering him on.
Sims hopes that viewers — and especially people like Merriweather — will take away a central theme from Landis: Just Watch Me: Keep trying and never stop.
“I wanted to be able to show people that failure is a good thing,” Sims said. “If you succeed all the time, you’re never going to learn how to persevere through things.”
Now, in his first year at PLNU, Sims isn’t playing baseball full-time anymore; he’s embarking on a new adventure. “I’m starting to train for the Paralympics, for sitting volleyball. I went to training camp for it last weekend in Oklahoma City,” he said with a smile. Sitting volleyball is where players sit on the floor and use their arms and legs to play volleyball over a lower net. Starting with the Sitting National Team Development Program, he hopes to make the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics national team.
The original dream of donning a professional baseball jersey is in the rearview, and after some council and prayer, his initial plan to walk on to the Sea Lions’ baseball team next season has also fizzled. “I came to the realization that I’ve played baseball. I did that for 18 years. It’s time to do more,” Sims said.
Sims’ mom is a girl’s high school volleyball coach, and he frequently sat in during her practices. At 10, he got his first taste of sitting volleyball at the Endeavor Games, which aims “to create equitable access to sport competitions for individuals with physical disabilities.” Sims was able to try a bunch of different sports that were catered especially to him. Sitting volleyball has taken back seat all those years, but now it’s time to move it to the forefront.
Baseball is still his first love, though — it’s hard to shake. He still competes for PLNU’s intramural squads and sees himself as a professional baseball coach one day. That’s where his Kinesiology major will come in handy, he says. Sims tips his cap to baseball for teaching him invaluable life lessons that’ll carry over to his sitting volleyball — and college — journey ahead.
“Instead of being discouraged, having a bad game and striking out three times, if I didn’t have the right mindset, if baseball hadn’t taught me from a young age to work through and learn from that, I definitely wouldn’t be here.”
“It taught me a lot about trial and error,” Sims said. “Instead of being discouraged, having a bad game and striking out three times, if I didn’t have the right mindset, if baseball hadn’t taught me from a young age to work through and learn from that, I definitely wouldn’t be here.”
The future can wait. For now, Sims is a beachside college student enjoying new experiences, chipping away at his syllabi, and seeing family during holiday breaks. “I’m going home next week,” he beams. “I’ll get to see my friends, my family, and get some good home-cooked meals.”
A typical college student indeed.
