Ruling and opposition lawmakers had a difference of opinion yesterday over who should throw the first pitch to start a friendly game between local baseball players and a Japanese guest team Daiei Hawks in November.
"It is a matter of course that the [ROC] Amateur Baseball Association would invite President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to start the international baseball game. We'd like the chairmen of the opposition parties to stop their defiance of this international custom, though we appreciate their interest in nurturing the development of local baseball in such an impressive way," said Democratic Progressive Party legislative leader Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯).
Tsai was referring to a NT$40 million grant from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made to the advertising agency commissioned by the Amateur Baseball Association to run the event. The grant was not directly to the association.
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) visited Japan last year and threw the first pitch for a Daiei Hawks home game in Fukuoka. Pan-blue alliance members have expressed the opinion that the two opposition party chairmen, Soong and the KMT's Lien Chan (連戰), should share the same honor for the games in November.
"An informal documented agreement between the Daiei Hawks and Lien and Soong explicitly states that Lien and Soong should throw the first pitch. Nevertheless, we have no problem to giving President Chen precedence out of courtesy if he were to send us a letter expressing his desire to start the game," PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
But head of the ROC Amateur Baseball Association Lin Tsung-chen (林宗成), explained that inviting national leaders to start games is an international convention.
"It is feasible to have the opposition chairmen start one of the ... games," Lin said.
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