Someone please tell me why Baseball is popular in Taiwan

Recreation Sports
21

[quote=“pigeonstopper”]Hitting a round ball with a round bat IS the hardest thing to do in the athletic universe.
[/quote]

If that’s so, why would a bunch of mountain kids with no professional training debut in a baseball game and beat the mighty Japanese?

Its a fluke, the game is flawed.

22

That’s the best argument you can come up with?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2003-03-02-ten-hardest-hitting-baseball_x.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/baseball1.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ten-hardest-splash.htm

To advocate that baseball is a non-challenging sport on the mere basis that you are not into it, is ignorant at best.

23

In fact, why don’t you devote 3 hours of your life to become a baseball pro? I hear they make a lot of money. :bravo:

24

List of Countries’ National Sports
Afghanistan - Buzkashi
Argentina - football
Australia - cricket is the offical summer sport, Rugby League is the offical winter sport in the northern states (New South Wales and Queensland) and Australian Rules Football is the offical winter sport in the others.
Austria - skiing
Barbados - cricket
Belgium - football
Bolivia - football
Bhutan - archery
Brazil - football
Brunei - football
Canada - lacrosse is the official summer sport and ice hockey is the official winter sport, but hockey is by far the sport most closely followed, and most closely linked to national pride. Designating lacrosse as an official sport is more of a nod to history that a reflection of the present-day situation: sports like baseball, Canadian football, soccer, golf, tennis are all much more popular.
China - football and table tennis
Cuba - baseball
Dominican Republic - baseball
England - football and rugby
Estonia - basketball
Fiji - Rugby Union
Finland - Pes

25

How typical of you to pull up a bunch of irrelevant and meaningless data without any analytical insight.

Your point being? :loco:

So basically your reasoning is that since baseball is not regarded by most countries as their national sport, therefore it is a non-challenging sport that can be mastered in 3 hours? :bravo:

26

This might be slightly OT but here goes…

So I went to a baseball game when I first arrived in Taipei. I think I saw the Bulls and the Lions.

Now, I should mention - I love baseball. Back in Canada, I used take road trips to Detroit, Boston and New York to watch games. I love Fenway park - so much history!! Old Tiger Staduim was an absolute treat - you were so close to the players, the history, and the field - it was heaven! I could imagine that was Ty Cobb playing right field. I also love watching minor league games (all levels - AAA, AA, A, rookie) all over the states and Canada. I was at the Skydome when Joe Carter hit the HR to win their second WS for the Jays back in 93. I just love baseball and it’s part of my life.

So when I came here, one of my first things I wanted to do was experience a baseball game Taiwanese style. You know what? I hated every second of it!!! Here’s some observations:

  • These teams are not affiliated with cities here in Taiwan. They are connected with banks, shoe stores, etc… so they constantly rotate throughout these neutral ballparks in Taiwan playing one another. What a shame. When a team represents a city - that’s when loyalty, pride and passion can build. That’s when identity is created. Each city has a character of it’s own and the team mirrors it. When you’re a BoSox fan (fan of the Boston Red Sox), you haven’t won a WS in 90 years and there’s a fierce pride and legendary myst eic that is part of you as a fan of the Red Sox. So when Boston plays the dreaded Yankees at Fenway, the hatred and all those years of disappointment, is part of every game. You watch because it is YOUR CITY, YOUR IDENTITY on the line that particular day. But, when a bank plays a shoe store in some stadium somewhere - where’s the fun in that? Because I bank at China Trust, I will cheer for the Whales???
  • And what is it with those stupid plastic cones? OMG! They make this dull, muffled “pionk” sound - there is no excitement in hearing this!! What ever happened to clapping, cheering, and yelling - “Da batter’s a bum!!”. These cones really makes the game much more boring and sterile.
  • On top of that, when the team is batting, their fans go through these orchestrated and annoying rhythms. First you see a sea of red cones rise, then the blue, red, blue, red, blue - ARGH! When the other team comes up to bat, their fans run through THEIR own set sequence with THEIR coloured cones - green, yellow, green, yellow… And while this is going on - the first team fans just sit on their hands and do nothing. OMG - it’s just soo systematic and efficent! And sooo frickn’ comforming and big borther-ish. I wanted to take a red cone and sit amongst the green & yellow just to screw things up - add some chaos and spice to the mix!!!
  • And then there’s this techno pop crap over the loud speakers, turned up so loud it vibrates the staduim and your ears. Very, very annoying. Are they trying to market this game as trendy? Baseball is NOT supposed to be trendy like the NBA. Baseball is an old fashion game, pure and simple, can be a thing of beauty.
  • They have “hot dogs” but it’s on a stick and it’s not a hot dog. Whatever it is - there’s no flavour or taste to it - very bland. No mustard. Might as well eat a rolled up copy of the Taipei Times.

This isn’t baseball. It’s a synthesized, plasticized, orchestrated and annoying version of the game I love. There is no passion - sizzle or spark. All you hear is this plasticy ‘pionk - pionk - pionk’. I could not get past these distractions and enjoy the actual game on the field, which BTW, was a good game! It was like sitting on your mom’s couch with the plastic still on it… very, very sterile and safe.

I never realized how much atmosphere, history and culture are a part of watching a baseball game.

Having said all this, everyone at the game was enjoying themselves and that’s the bottom line. Baseball is thriving here but not the way I am used to.

As for me - I think my next baseball game will be back in North America where I can have a dog, a beer, and yell until my voice is all but gone.

Martin in Lu Chou

27

I haven’t made it to a game here yet, but you are right, it’s hard to get excited for a team with a company name. That sounds more suitable to a local softball league. The cheering is very orchestrated. It must be due to the Japanese influence. On TV they list the balls and strikes backward so a full count is 2-3.
Since the Cardinals are in first place, I don’t have much to complain about. How about St. Louis vs. New York in the World Series? That would be a thing to see.

28

"Canada - lacrosse is the official summer sport and ice hockey is the official winter sport, but hockey is by far the sport most closely followed, and most closely linked to national pride. Designating lacrosse as an official sport is more of a nod to history that a reflection of the present-day situation: sports like baseball, Canadian football, soccer, golf, tennis are all much more popular. "

With Canada, I would add curling to the mix. Don’t think it is a national game but Canadians love their curling, especially in the western provinces.

Martin in Lu Chou

29

“Yes, because to me, bowling is not boring enough. I want to slow it down, put it on ice, and add housework.”–John Wing

30

[quote=“Tetsuo”]Why is baseball so popular here?

Why is Rugby so popular in New Zealand? Why is Soccer so popular in Brazil? Why is Cricket so popular in India?

How is anyone supposed to be able to answer that question?![/quote]

And why is curling so popular in Canada? It was invented/created in Scotland, but Canadians took to it and got good at it.

Canadians even won the first “World Championship” by beating Scotland; and they continue to be among the best in the world.

Some may see the game as bowls (lawn bowling) or bocci on ice and that watching it is like watching paint dry.

To others it’s chess on ice and see it as a battle of minds and wills.

Why is any sport popular? You could put it down to the pervasive influence of the Japanese, Americans, Scots, or English (take your pick).

But when it comes down to it, it’s popular because people like it: It’s easy to learn, difficult to master and some can get really good at it.

In Canada it’s curling, in Brazil it’s football (soccer), in New Zealand its rugby, in Pakistan and India it’s cricket and in Taiwan it’s baseball.

Now what I want to know is how all those European teams got so good at hockey :s

(Note, I didn’t call it “ice hockey.”

“Ice hockey” is a term used only by those who don’t play the game.)

31

I’m not a big baseball fan (Blue Jays fan, maybe, and I don’t claim to be an expert.

BUT For the record, “a baseball World Cup” is NOT something that is “in the works”. It already exists and was held here in Taiwan in 2001.

The link below is once place to start your research.
You can also check Taipei Times archives.

http://www.baseballitalia.com/2004_elenco_news.asp?tipo_elenco=tipo&idgruppo=83

32

Here’s the pdf of a chapter out of Andrew Morris’ book on Taiwan’s pop culture covering baseball’s origins in Taiwan as well as its evolution as a vehicle for Taiwanese identity:

international.ucla.edu/cira/ … Morris.pdf.

Pretty entertaining and informative. DOesn’t quite get to covering the recent merging of the CPBL and TBL.

PS: If the pdf isn’t coming up, you can read the html version here (I hope):

64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:v2 … .pdf&hl=en

33

more importantly, why can’t any other countries compete in it?..what sort of a WORLD CUP is it anyway?..oh, an AMERICAN world cup.

sorry guys, but there are more places in the world than bend and springfield and smallville…strange how they can be so isolated when they even have land borders

(Ducking for cover now…and putting on my helmet and flakjacket)