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Games bring back baseball buzz

The cheers are loud and the spirits high. Taiwan's baseball fans have once again shown zealous support and enthusiasm for the national sport years after a betting scandal threatened to lead to the domestic game's demise.

Regardless of how the 34th Baseball World Cup ends today, the games have indicated that Taiwan's baseball fans are still out there, ready to once again embrace the sport and its players.

The question now is how to keep those fans.

Taiwan has been home to baseball teams since 1905, during Japanese colonial rule. The first all-Taiwanese baseball team was established in 1921.

With the introduction of junior and senior leagues in 1971 and 1973 respectively, Taiwan's three leagues all began to win world championships.

Baseball, however, started to decline in 1982 when Taiwan's performance in the international arena began to decline.

The game got a fresh chance with the inauguration of the nation's first professional league in 1989. But the joy was short-lived after a major betting scandal and the creation of another league resulted in a loss of fans.

Betting scandals

Former Olympian and member of the China Times Eagles (時報鷹) Wang Kuang-hsi (王光熙) was just one of several players sent to jail for his involvement in a widespread betting scandal in which players were caught throwing games. Wang was sentenced to two years in prison on gambling charges in 1998.

"I don't think about it much. The only thing I want is a peaceful life," said the 34-year-old Ami Aborigine from Hualien County. Wang's case is on appeal at the High Court.

After serving his sentence, Wang went back to his hometown to teach high school baseball for 18 months. About a year ago, he returned to Taipei to work as a pavement technician at the city government's Bureau of Public Works.

"It's quite a challenge salary-wise, but as a high school graduate, I don't have any complaints about having a job as a civil servant," he said.

When Wang was a pro his monthly salary was more than NT$230,000. Wang now earns NT$30,000 a month.

Commenting on the government's efforts to take care of exceptional athletes, Wang said that the government should do more than just offer monetary rewards to players.

"There should be a channels made available for athletes to continue their passion and talent," he said. "Take the 1992 Olympic team for example -- each of us received NT$5 million for winning silver, but what happened then?"

Witnessing the enthusiasm of baseball fans at the 34th Baseball World Cup, Wang said that he is both happy and worried.

"I'm glad to see the fans coming back out to show their support, but I'm afraid that their passion might be short-lived," he said.

To lure back more baseball fans, Wang said government agencies should try to host more international games.

"Or if it's financially difficult to do so, they should consider sending out our teams to compete in international games," he said.

An earnest hope

Jen Chih-wei (任志偉), who was named one of the best batters at the 1995 Baseball Asia Cup in Japan, said that one of his earnest hopes is to be able to play the game again.

"How I miss those days of competing for the glory of the country," he said. "I hope to be able to form a baseball team for the city government and to eventually lead the team to professional competitions."

After leaving the Weichuan Dragons (味全龍) in 1999, Jen began doing road repair work for the city's Bureau of Public Works in March.

"It's taken me awhile to adjust to such a different life, but what can I do? Life must go on," he said.

Jen added that although he misses playing terribly, he is not keen about returning to the major leagues.

"There's no point in going back if those old coaches are still there manipulating the selection of players," he said.

To keep baseball fans interested in the sport, Jen said that the government should not be content with simply holding one world cup championship.

"In addition to making an effort to hold more international baseball events, government agencies should build more baseball stadiums that meet international standards; discover and cultivate more baseball talent; and raise the quality of coaching," he said.

What is equally important is to encourage corporate sectors to support baseball teams, he added.

"Incentives such as tax reduction might not be a bad idea," he said.

`Disunity doesn't lead anywhere'

Unlike Jen and Wang, Hsieh Ming-yung (謝明勇), the head coach of the Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), seems to be more at ease with his baseball career.

Hsieh, 54, was one of the players representing Taiwan in the 1972 Baseball World Cup in Nicaragua. It marked the first time Taiwan ever played in the Baseball World Cup. Hsieh later led Taiwan to the Olympic silver as head coach of the nation's team in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Sitting in his fourth-floor apartment in Hsintien City in Taipei County, Hsieh said that he has seen dramatic changes in baseball over the years.

"I remember playing baseball in junior high -- we were so poor that we had to hand-sew broken baseballs and use tape and nails to fix broken bats," he said.

He added that when the public first began to take notice of baseball in the 1960s and 1970s, the only place where a game could be played properly was the then New Park, where the 228 Memorial Park now stands.

Just as the game began to really take off with the introduction of a pro league in 1989, a gambling scandal and then the creation of the baseball association and the major league prompted fans to turn their backs on the sport.

The Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association (中華民國棒協) started the nation's first Professional League (職棒聯盟) in 1989. In 1997, the Naluwan Professional Baseball Company (那魯灣職棒公司) began a second pro league, the Taiwan Major League (台灣大聯盟), in 1997.

Many baseball observers attribute a decrease in the quality of play to the establishment of the second league as the creation of many more teams made it significantly easier to go pro.

A lowering in the quality of the games turned some fans off. When the betting scandal later broke, it was a near-fatal blow to an already struggling sport.

"To win back baseball fans, the two organizations must work together and the two leagues must integrate," Hsieh said. "Disunity doesn't lead anywhere."

Hsieh added that he was also upset about the political disputes over the venue for the world cup's opening and closing ceremonies.

Taipei and Kaohsiung cities engaged in a political tug of war when Kaohsiung City tried to change the venue of the award and closing ceremony from Taipei to Kaohsiung.

The dispute, however, was finally resolved when the International Baseball Federation rejected Kaohsiung's proposal.
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