Baseball scorekeeper Wu Fu-hsing (吳富興), 92, from Pingtung County has been doing his job for 42 years.
“It makes me happy to see young players rise up generation after generation,” he said, adding that he would continue doing this job as long as he is needed.
A former baseball player with Taiwan Power Co, Wu has been a baseball game scorekeeper since he was 50 years old.
Photo: Luo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
He recorded scores for late pitcher and EDA Rhinos manager Hsu Sheng-ming (徐生明), former Lamigo Monkeys slugger Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒), Uni-President Lions pitchers Pan Wei-lun (潘威倫) and Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) and Major League Baseball pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民).
Wu also coached baseball teams and served as the Pingtung County Baseball and Softball Committee chief executive for more than two decades.
Wu said that he became a scorekeeper for a student league because it was short of staff, and he did not need training for the job. He volunteered for the position after researching several books on baseball written in Japanese, in which he is fluent.
His extensive knowledge of baseball and players means that he is often asked to record student baseball games. On average he does the scorekeeping for more than 100 games per year, he said.
Details of baseball games, such as whether a player hits a fly, line or ground or is tagged out, have to be recorded, he said.
Senior baseball umpire Lee Ying-tsung (李英宗) said that they do not dare become lazy, seeing how hard Wu has been working over the years.
Lee said that fewer people understand the Japanese style of scorekeeping, which Wu still uses.
He said Wu still has a sharp mind, despite a decline in stamina as he ages, adding that his records are almost 100 percent correct.
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