About 800 fans of professional baseball staged a parade rally around the Presidential Office yesterday to urge the government to hold a national baseball conference to save the nation’s favorite sport.
Holding placards and signs, fans met on Ketagalan Boulevard yesterday afternoon to shout slogans such as “mobsters out, baseball in” and “support prosecutors catching the mobsters” as they marched.
Arriving at Ketagalan Boulevard, the fans reiterated their appeal to the government.
PHOTO: CNA
Baseball commentator Charles Yang (楊清瓏), a former player in the Golden Dragon Little Baseball Team, recalled how his team received a heroic welcome when they won the US Little League Championship in 1969.
“Now fans have to go on to the street to save the national sport,” Yang said. “The game-fixing scandal has done severe damage to baseball. As a man of baseball, I am embarrassed and hope that players can control themselves. Meanwhile, the government should prevent mobsters from manipulating the results of professional baseball games.”
“Baseball fans should root for their teams on the field, not have to go on the street and protest,” commentator Tseng Wen-cheng (曾文誠) said. “I hope the government can solve the game’s problems.”
The organizer hosted a similar rally on Nov. 1, which was attended mostly by fans of the Brother Elephants. In the parade yesterday, however, fans of disbanded teams including the Wei Chuan Dragons (味全龍) and Chinatrust Whales (中信鯨), also attended. Many of them vented their anger over game-fixing scandals.
“I was first a fan of the Dragons and then the Whales,” one angry fan said. “When the Whales said last year they were out, can you imagine how we felt?”
A man surnamed Luo (羅) said he was a fan of the Chinatrust Whales. He said the rally yesterday was to bring out more baseball fans to urge the government to address the issue immediately.
“Baseball is a valuable asset to Taiwan. It has accomplished much more than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said, while pointing at the ministry building.
The organizer invited celebrities such as New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) and First Lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), but neither attended the parade yesterday. Wang, however, expressed his support for the campaign through his agent. On Friday, the organizer delivered a petition and an official invitation for the first lady to the Presidential Office.
Wu Chun-che (吳俊哲), director of the Competitive Athletics Department at the Sports Affairs Council, said the council was determining an agenda for a national baseball conference.
Representatives from fan clubs would also be invited, Wu said.
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