Baseball: The Uni-President Lions of Tainan City

This weekend was devoted to relaxing and baseball. I went to see the Uni-President Lions defeat the Taipei Whales in Taiwan Professional Baseball. The field is beautiful and we had a lovely time sitting outside watching the game. The Taiwanese love their baseball and the atmosphere is quite different from an an American game. When the team is up to bat, a designated leader in the crowd leads cheers and chants, drums bang and the crowd hits plastic sticks the whole time. It is amazing to see. The teams can have a few foreigners and one playing for the Tainan team is Benjamin Cardazo who is from Houston, Texas. The big hitter for the team is pictured in orange. He is from the Dominican Republic and when he gets up to bat, they bring out a flame thrower to acknowledge his skill. If one of the players hits a homerun, a stuffed lion is thrown into the crowd and much scrambling goes on with hopes of taking it home.

Of course the most beloved baseball player among my students is Chien-Ming Wang who pitches for the NY Yankees. He was born and raised in Tainan City as was Hong-Chih Kuo who pitches for the LA Dodgers. Interestingly, the two went to the same middle school in Tainan.

***One of my students saw me on ESPN Asia at the game. That's fun. The sports station follows many of the professional games.