Sat, Oct 18, 2003 page18

• Hong family making a success of Elephants

  DOUBLE PLAY The four brothers who run the Brother Hotel love baseball so much that not only do they play it every week, they also created Taiwan's first profitable team

  • AP
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  It's a Tuesday afternoon and the work week is picking up momentum. Some would expect the Hong brothers would be busy tending to their upmarket Brother Hotel in Taipei or cutting deals for their other business ventures.

  Instead, the four siblings have more important things to do. They're out playing baseball with employees and friends at a special regulation-sized stadium they've built in this Taipei suburb.

  For years, it's been a sacred weekly tradition. Every Tuesday at 2pm the middle-aged brothers leave their offices, strip down to their boxer shorts in a dugout, slip into uniforms, lace up their cleats and play nine innings of ball.

  The games aren't the only way they show their obsession with the game. The family also owns Taiwan's most successful professional baseball team: the Brother Elephants. The team is just one game away from winning a third consecutive season championship. They hope to clinch the title today.

  The Hong brothers don't care if they miss out on business opportunities while spending Tuesday afternoons playing baseball, said Hong Jui-ho, the No. 4 brother and president of the Elephants team.

  "We used to play on Saturday, but some of our employees wanted to be with their families on the weekend," the 54-year-old Hong said. "So we said OK, we'll play on Tuesday. You can either work or play."

  He points to the first baseman on the perfectly groomed and chalked field and notes that the man manages the front desk at the hotel, which isn't one of Taipei's fanciest but is clean, well-maintained and popular with Japanese travelers.

  The games are serious, officiated by three professional umpires. Baseballs, not softballs, are used. When No. 3 brother Jui-lin walks three batters and loads the bases in the first inning, he's pulled off the pitching mound.

  No. 2 brother Teng-long plays second base, while the youngest, Hong Jie, pitches. The oldest, 65-year-old Teng-sen, has a bad shoulder and can't play anymore.

  Their father got the Hong brothers hooked on baseball as he was building the family's business empire, which began with a sewing machine factory. The hotel came later and along with a trading company that imports Japanese goods.

  For 19 years, the family has owned the Elephants team, and for the first time, they made a profit -- about US$400,000, Jui-ho said. It's the first professional baseball team in Taiwanese history to make money.

  Past years have been ugly from a business perspective. Last year, the team lost US$800,000. In the 2001 season, the Elephants lost US$1.5 million. Three years ago, the financial damage was between US$2 million and US$3 million, Jui-ho said.

  Why did the family stick with it?

  "We just love baseball," Jui-ho said.

  While he stood in line for tickets to a recent game, fan Huang Hung-yuan said the Elephants' honor code attracted him to the team.

  "I like the players because the players make their fans feel like we're all equal," said Huang, 28, who works at a shipping company. "They don't put on any airs. There's no distance between the players and the fans."

  Togetherness is one of the team's themes. The back of the players' hats have the motto "All humans are brothers within the four seas" stitched in gold thread.

  The team doesn't tolerate prima donnas. Players must be polite to fans and they aren't allowed to fight or argue with umpires on the field, Jui-ho said.

  "Today, if you have fame, much of it depends on your fans," he said. "If you have no fans, you have nothing."

  One of the ironies of the team is that the Elephants have been successful without paying the highest salaries in the league. Critics have accused the franchise of being stingy or exploiting players.

  But Jui-ho said, "Generally, the other teams' salaries are higher than ours. But their lowest salaries are lower than ours."
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