Taiwanese-American outfielder Stuart Fairchild, whose powerhouse performance at this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) helped propel the national team to key victories, has revealed that he has indigenous roots.
The 29-year-old Seattle-born hitter, affectionately nicknamed “Fei-zai” (費仔) by local fans, emerged as a national hero at the Tokyo Dome after hitting two home runs to help secure wins for Taiwan at the WBC.
While Fairchild’s heritage was previously described as being half-Taiwanese through his mother, who immigrated from Taichung to the US at age 12, a deeper family history recently came to light.
Photo: AFP
During a celebratory dinner hosted by his agency, his mother shared that his maternal grandmother is a Pangcah (Amis) woman from Hualien County.
Fairchild said the overwhelming support from Taiwanese crowds — characterized by choreographed chants and rhythmic drumming — offered a sense of belonging he had not anticipated.
The Cleveland Guardians outfielder, who has returned to the US to prepare for the upcoming MLB season, said through his agency that the experience was an “unforgettable journey.”
He expressed a profound emotional bond with the nation and said he would be “extremely interested and absolutely willing” to represent the national team again in the future.
Beyond his professional commitments, Fairchild said he is already planning a return trip to Taiwan during the off-season for a homecoming journey.
The visit would allow him to explore his grandmother’s ancestral lands and better understand his Amis heritage, he said.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
RSS