Rusted trophies, worn-out baseball outfits, bats and faded hand-written game reports were just some of the items at an exhibition chronicling the development of baseball in Taiwan.
The exhibition opened at the Taipei City Hall lobby yesterday and will run until Nov. 18.
The event was co-organized by the city government, the Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association (
Addressing a group of young students and the media, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"I hope the public -- especially the younger generation -- develops an enthusiasm for baseball, because no sport can prosper without zealous fans," Ma said.
Ma said that baseball used to be a big attraction when he was younger. "I remember when I was in elementary school, I was thrilled when Lungshan Elementary School [Wanhua] won first place at the provincial baseball game," he said.
When he was at college, Ma said the country went crazy when the Red Leaf little league team from Taitung County defeated Japan, then the world champions.
Like many people, Ma said he used to wake up in the middle of the night to watch live baseball broadcasts when he was serving his compulsory military service.
Wang Shaw-lan (
"There was extreme tension in the news room because we had to write down the stories while listening to live radio and TV broadcasts, while making international telephone calls to find out about the updated result of the games," she said. "Enthusiastic fans would also phone in to the paper to check the latest results."
Peng Cheng-hao (彭誠浩), chairman of the Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association, said the upcoming Baseball World Cup was a perfect opportunity to develop baseball diplomacy.
"We expect more than 700 foreign journalists to cover the event.
"In addition, we're proud of having launched a bilingual World Cup Web page in October. It has attracted an average of 500,000 visitors a day," Peng said.
Taiwan started to see the formation of baseball teams in 1905 during Japanese colonial rule. The first all-Taiwanese baseball team was set up in 1921.
Junior and senior leagues were introduced in 1971 and 1973 respectively and Taiwan's three leagues later won three world championships.
Baseball started to decline in 1982 when the leagues lost world championships.
A professional baseball league was inaugurated in 1989.
However, gambling scandals and the resultant loss of fans all delivered serious blows to the game.
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