It's never too late to believe in your dreams and a Taiwan baseball player has proved it.
In the recently released movie The Rookie, based on a true story, Jim Morris, a high school baseball coach and science teacher, makes a deal with his students:
He will try out for the major leagues if they win the championship.
For a pitcher on the other side of the globe, here in Taiwan, Wang Chin-lee's (
Unlike many of his teammates at the Brother Elephants (
The 26-year-old was never registered with the Level A (
The highest level of baseball Wang ever played was on a Level B (乙組) team for a record company years ago. No one thought that he would be joining the professionals.
But he made it, joining the Brother Elephants in 1998 after being introduced to the organization by friends of the Elephants' coaching staff. He started as a practice player, giving batters the chance to improve their swings in training.
He received no signing bonus and earned a minimum salary, waiting for the chance to make it someday.
At that time, Wang would practice throws along with his fellow relievers and needed time to polish his own changeups.
After a full year of training, Wang made his debut on March 28, 1999, and received a no decision.
In three starts and 10 reliever appearances, Wang finished the year pitching just over 20 innings. He earned a win but also took three losses.
The season before last was disastrous for Wang as he failed to register a win in all his 21 appearances, eight of them starts.
He finished the season with none and six and an earned-run average of 3.96.
Just about everyone was ready to give up on him, saying that a player who wasn't even selected at Level A could not make it.
But Wang confounded all the pundits last season by winning 10 games and compiling an earned-run average of 4.35.
Wang won an MVP award for May last year, got his 10th win of the season and became a major contributor at last year's Championship, when the Elephants defeated the Lions four games to three.
Wang proved his worth to everyone who doubted his ability, receiving a latecomer's signing bonus and a raise.
Invited by the distributor of the film The Rookie to be the speaker at the film's premier last week, Wang praised Morris for never giving up on his dreams. He said it was never too late to believe in your dreams.
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