The Red Leaves of Baseball Past

Drive north from Taitung, cross the Luye River, then drive left and up the mountain and you'll get to the Yen Ping Rural Township. Passing a checkpoint, the road winds up the mountains, where the corn in the fields is as high as a man and the Luye River flows toward the south. Amid this beautiful scenery, to the north of the river on tableland a hundred some meters high lies the Hongye Village, a town renowned among Chinese and foreigners alike. Populated mostly by Bunun aborigines, the village offers beautiful views, squeezed as it is between mountains and water. In one corner of town lies the birthplace of Taiwanese little league baseball: the Hongye Elementary School.

Let's remember days gone by, when on the playing field of this 200-square-meter school of just a hundred-odd students, a piece of baseball history was made that people would call in all earnestness a miracle.

The tire the players hung from a tree to strengthen their swings is still a favorite plaything of Hongye's children.

Rock balls and bamboo bats:

Twenty years ago, under the leadership of Principal Lin Chu-peng and Coach Chiou Ching-cheng, these unrestrained and carefree Bunun children began to play baseball. With the lack of equipment characteristic of rural elementary schools, they hung a tire from a tree to practice their swings and strengthen their arms and waists, and they used rock balls and bamboo bats to practice hitting and fielding. There's a big photograph at the entry to the memorial which proves that they played barefoot and caught balls barehanded, lacking even gloves.

Because the school field was small, the balls would fly off into an adjacent corn field during batting practice. Going down and gleaning the balls from among the stalks became a regular after-school activity for all of the students and teachers.

In 1964, Hongye entered in its first tournament, the Second Children's Baseball Tournament of Taitung County, and took first place. As a result, the school's next principal, Hu Hsueh-li, was even more aggressive in training the team.

Expenses were always the biggest problem, but fortunately the team found a benefactor who appreciated its talent.

Hongye was able to win the Taiwan champion-ship in 1968 thanks to a small news item. A report in the papers noted that the Taitung County champions, from Hongye, lacked the funds to make it to Taipei for the tournament. When Tsai Kun-lin, the owner of Prince (a magazine for elementary school readers), read the report, he thought about how adults were always telling children that they could accomplish anything if they worked hard. Yet here was a team that struggled in the midst of adversity but had no chance to go to the competition because of a lack of money. Weren't adults just lying to children?

The birthplace of Little League baseball in Taiwan is on tableland above the glittering Luye River.

A little help from a friend:

In order to give the youngsters from Hongye a chance, Tsai wrote a letter to Hu, saying that he was willing to sponsor the team. Hu wrote back saying that aboriginal children were tough. If they made it to Taipei they could get by on two meals a day, and they needn't book into a hotel--they could sleep in the magazine office.

Just before the final islandwide competition, the Prince bus arrived in Hongye and took the children to the competition in Taipei. Meeting with victory after victory, they were crowned champions. Becoming a focus of media attention, this bunch of barefooted tykes went on to beat the Little League World Champions from Japan 7-0. From this point on, Little League baseball in Taiwan took off. While people call Hsieh Kuo-cheng, who was director of the Baseball Association at the time, the father of Taiwanese little league baseball, Hongye is its birthplace.

At the opening ceremonies of the first season of professional baseball in 1990, Yu Hong-kai, one of the old Hongye players, came with his three sons to lead the teams on their march around the field, giving testimony to the legacy of baseball on Taiwan.

And now the Hongye Little League Memorial has been established.

In the intervening 24 years, many championship trophies, plaques, pennants and other valuable memorabilia have been lost. The exhibited object sat the memorial, such as the uniforms, gloves and bats of that year's players, have been donated by Chiou Te-sheng, who still lives in Hongye. It's just unfortunate there are so few items on display. The photos in the museum were mostly taken by various publications.

Hongye's former champions have gathered together once again to celebrate the opening of the Little League Memorial.

The days of glory have passed:

At the opening of the memorial, the officials and other guests arrived to make their speeches, and the place was honored as the birthplace of the baseball movement in Taiwan. Seven of that year's players, wearing red jackets, busily autographed memorial baseballs, as if they had temporarily slipped back in time.

What about the others? Has everything gone well with them? How have the young heros of that year made out? Sadly, some have been injured in fishing or car accidents, and others have already passed away.

Things have worked out best for Yu Hong-kai, who went on to play for the world champion Chinlong team and study at Huahsing Junior High School. A superintendent at the Taitung prison, he also coaches.

The tree from which the Hongye youngsters hung a tire has reached a height of more than 30 meters, and children still use it to practice their swings. Next to the school yard is a field of ripe corn bordered by maples. As the leaves turn red, the glory of those bygone years can be found only in memories.

[Picture Caption]

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From the catcher's expression, you know the training hardships endured by Hongye's barefoot youngsters of yesteryear. (photo courtesy of Hongye Little League Memorial)

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The tire the players hung from a tree to strengthen their swings is still a favorite plaything of Hongye's children.

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The birthplace of Little League baseball in Taiwan is on tableland above the glittering Luye River.

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Hongye's former champions have gathered together once again to celebrate the opening of the Little League Memorial.