Another sports fiasco that could make international waves seems ready to strike Taiwan, only this time it involves Major League Baseball (MLB) players. Sports promoter Bros Sports Marketing announced this week that it had invited a 25-man team of MLB players to visit Taiwan in early November, and that the team of seasoned ball players would go up against local teams in a series of games to be held nationwide. The promoters added that the Taiwanese teams most likely to play the Major Leaguers would be from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
However, no sooner had the promoters announced this, than representatives from the CPBL rejected any such plans, saying their teams would be engaged in preparations for the Asia Series to be held later in November. The CPBL said its champions would be getting ready to challenge the champions of South Korea, Japan, China and Australia in the series, and that other CPBL players would be assisting in this.
According to the representatives, there is no way that CPBL players could take time out of their schedule to play exhibition games against a team of visiting MLB players.
This begs the question: Did the Bros Sports Marketing promoters even bother discussing their marketing scheme with the CPBL, or did they just assume that CPBL teams would drop whatever they had on their plate as soon as they heard a team of baseball stars from the US would be in Taiwan? How could they make such an embarrassing mistake as signing a deal with 25 MLB players before even being sure who they would play when they came to Taiwan?
Backtracking after the CPBL nixed the idea, the promoters said the next best choice to play exhibition games against the MLB players would be amateur teams from the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. However, the association’s executive secretary, Richard Lin (林宗成), has not confirmed whether they will play. Lin said it would be better to have a professional team play the Major Leaguers, because his amateur players were younger and less experienced.
Many of those amateur players are likely skilled, and they would probably jump at the chance to play against some of their MLB heroes, but would that not be a bit of an insult to the Major Leaguers? The promoters would fly them halfway around the world, only to pitch them against players half their age and not nearly as experienced. It would be a joke.
Bros Sports Marketing has invited MLB players including New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, Washington Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez and locals Wang Chien-ming (王建民) and Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) to play exhibition games in Taiwan, only to find that there is nobody to play against them.
What is Bros Sports going to do if this whole thing falls apart and it ends up with a 25-man team of Major Leaguers with nothing to do? Take them to a night market for a taste of stinky tofu?
One thing is certain: Taiwan wants to avoid a situation in which a lot of high-profile sports stars are seen milling around for a week with nothing to do, only to leave Taiwan with bad memories and bad things to say about the organization here.
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