TAOYUAN, Taiwan (AP) – A group of 600 young Taiwanese baseball fans jammed into a local auditorium to cheer on one of their countrymen pitching for the New York Yankees on Thursday before 45,000 at Yankee Stadium.
The fans in suburban Taipei watched as Wang Chien-ming went down to defeat against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 9-4, dropping his season record to 4-3.
Wang, 25, has become an icon for many of this island’s 23 million people. All of his appearances are televised island-wide, and many – like the game against the Devil Rays – are projected onto giant screens before hundreds of cheering fans.
Introduced during Japanese colonial rule in the 1920s, baseball is an immensely popular sport among Taiwanese.
Hu Yuan-hui, CEO of the public television outlet that runs live broadcasts of Wang’s starts, said he feels an obligation to bring his exploits to as many Taiwanese as possible.
“Commercial stations don’t provide this service,” he said. “Many Taiwanese want to see Wang playing in the major leagues. He’s a very good player.”
By 6:30 on Friday morning – 12 hours ahead of New York – hundreds of young baseball fans were packed into the auditorium of the Taoyuan County Hall, waving banners and singing cheers in praise of Wang.
When the game began 35 minutes later, they were on the edge of their seats, exulting when he retired Devil Ray batters, and groaning when they eked out hits or made it safely home.
Chen Kai-lun, 16, a baseball player on the Taoyuan Agricultural School team, said he wanted to emulate Wang and someday play for the Yankees.
“I want to be just like him,” he said. “I want to be in the major leagues. I want to say to Wang Chien-ming, one day I will be just like you.”
Despite the loss to Tampa Bay, Wang’s legion of local supporters refused to be discouraged.
“Even though he lost today I still think Wang pitched a good game,” said Wang Chia-wei, 14, a baseball player on the Guan Ying Junior High School team, who is no relation to his Yankees namesake. “I will always support him. I think he will have a very good life in the United States.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.