When Hayla Chou (周怡君), a saleswoman and hardcore baseball fan, saw the player roster for the recent Olympic Qualifying Tournament, she did not feel like watching the games at all.
"Except for players like Chang Tai-shan (
But her passion for baseball was reignited when she saw the young players score their first victory in the match against Spain, which Taiwan won 13 to 3.
Their performance even compelled her to make the trip south to Douliou (
The tournament was the nation's last opportunity to secure qualification for the Beijing Olympics after it missed out at the Asian Baseball Championship last year. In the tournament, eight countries were competing for the last three spots available.
Taiwan, Canada and South Korea eventually nabbed the last three places.
Chou's experience reflects that of many baseball fans around the nation. Little-known players, however, were not the only reason for the lack of interest from fans.
Before the list of 24 players was finalized, the media had reported that many of the players based in the US and Japan would not be able to play in the tournament, including Wang Chien-ming (王建民), Tsao Chin-huei (曹錦輝), Lin En-yu (林恩宇) and Hu Ching-lung (胡金龍).
Slugger Chen Chin-feng (
Then, just a day before the first qualifying game began, two of the team's players failed a drug test, forcing the team manager Hung Yi-chung (
Many baseball fans lost heart after reading the negative media coverage.
A blogger who identified himself as Yisi Lin said in his online journal that he did not dare go to the games because he believed that it was impossible for Taiwan to qualify for the Olympics with all the injuries and inexperienced players. He said that he could only bear to watch the games on television.
But like Chou, when Lin saw the gigantic national flag displayed in the grandstand in the game against Mexico, he was once again energized to watch the games from the ballpark.
"I love this! The qualifier is getting everybody together," Lin said. "This is what life should be about: joy, tears and passion. Now I see a more united Taiwan team."
Another blogger, "Shiaochia" (
"Perhaps because they are young and ambitious, they don't give up easily and will keep on fighting until the end," she said. "This [the tournament] is probably the best international game ever."
Shiaochia characterized the players who competed in the final qualifier as the nation's hope on the baseball field for the next decade.
Researcher Hsieh Shih-yuan (謝仕淵) of the National Taiwan Museum has studied the history of baseball in Taiwan, which goes back more than a century. He noted that baseball has provided a healing and unifying force that could not be found elsewhere in the nation.
"I don't think that the baseball fans could all identify with the national flag displayed," Hsieh said. "But you saw every hand on the grandstand was trying to hold up the flag, regardless of which party they support.
Nowhere, not even at rallies of a political campaign, can you see a sight like this."
He said baseball has played an important role in raising the profile of Taiwan when it was still an unknown member of the international community.
"Because of this, people in Taiwan value performances in international games, above all things," Hsieh said. "The attitude has helped nurture a horde of nationalistic baseball fans, who will watch a baseball game only because it is about the country."
What happened at the qualifier was a miracle and may result in an emerging generation of baseball players, something that has happened more than once in the history of baseball, he added.
As an example, Hsieh mentioned the Chiayi School of Agriculture and Forestry's participation in the Pan-Japanese High School Yakyu Tournament in Koshiyen in 1931, which made history when they came second.
"Nobody expected that a baseball team composed mainly of [Han] Taiwanese and Aboriginal baseball players could ever achieve anything great at that time, but a miracle happened," he said.
In his article titled Taiwan + Baseball: A Century-Old Love Affair, published in 2001, Hsieh even said the Chiayi school's victory was a symbolic event showing that "given an even playing field, the Taiwanese win over the Japanese was not merely a possibility but was a way of soaring above the barbarian fence erected by the Japanese."
But despite the uplifting performance of the team, baseball fans do not think it will translate to a more active participation in the nation's professional baseball circuit, which is now in its 19th year.
"When given the chance, some of these young players will probably choose to play baseball in the Major Leagues or Japan," Chou said, "Nobody wants to play pro ball in Taiwan."
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