The Boys of Summer--Youth Baseball on a Hot Streak

On the athletic fields of the Pei Nan Primary School, just near the heart of Taitung City, a group of shaven-headed youth are practicing. From the green grassy field, mountains are visible off in the distance and a railroad runs nearby. The sounds of the children playing happily and the whistles of the passing trains weave around each other to create an entrancing effect.

This is a school with only twelve classes, with 450 children in the whole place. But it has a baseball team and a softball team. What makes visitors even more envious is that they have a regulation field which can be used for formal competitions.

Heating up at the "base" level, chilling out in the classroom? Except for not necessarily having a field, the number of schools like Pei Nan Primary School are not in the minority. One clear indicator in that since the first "National Unified Baseball Competition" in 1989, the number of teams has gone up year after year. In 1989 there were 240 teams, 386 in 1990, and this year has already boomed to 770 teams.

If one calculates two teams per school, that is to say that one out of every six of Taiwan's 2,400 primary schools fields teams. What is the significance of this figure?

In the 1970's, when teams like Chin Lung, Chu Jen, and Chui Yang were winning title after title at the Little League World Series in William sport in the U.S., teams sprouted up "like mushrooms after a spring rain." Yet the highest figure at that time did not surpass 300. So why have the number of teams today already surpassed the figure of those days?

At the Far East Little League Baseball Championships held in Canton at the end of July, the Li Hsing Primary School team from Taichung lost to the Philippines team, so they could not win the right of representation, thereby losing the chance to go to Williamsport to compete for the world title.

In the first part of August, the softball team of the Kung Yuan Primary School took first place at the Boys Softball World Championships held in Japan. Both the success and the defeat were reported only briefly on the sports pages, and neither got much attention. Why does everybody seem so cool to youth baseball?

Looking to the big leagues: This is connected to the development of all aspects of baseball.

After the Hong Yeh Little League team, buried in a remote area of the mountains of Taitung, started a wave of popularity for youth baseball by defeating Japan's squad, in the 1970's the Chin Lung, Chu Jen, and Chui Yang teams won the world title year after year. Yet in this peak period when they seemed unstoppable and peerless, the seeds of a low tide in the baseball movement were planted.

The trend in baseball at that time of devoting attention only to the champions meant that participation in little league became a synonym for only the elite and young stars. Kids who played ball didn't need to worry about their studies, and no means were spared to win the championship. Abnormal phenomena like stealing players from other teams, playing over aged kids, or excessive training made many school principals cool to the idea of organizing teams any more. Distressed, many parents were not willing to let their kids participate, and baseball came to be increasingly divorced from the spirit of education.

In 1988 or 1989, the development of little league baseball reached its nadir. Fewer than 20 schools organized teams. With development facing a squeeze, people in the world of baseball became noticeably worried. In March 1989, professional baseball began, providing a morale boost. Ballplayers now had a future, or at least a chance to play in the big leagues. Besides the life not being bad, the social status was nothing to kick dirt on. People who were concerned about or wanted to support baseball now had a soapbox to show their stuff, and the companies that sponsored teams and their relevant enterprises gave them a place to turn. More importantly, pro ball has proved an inducement, giving children who play ball hope for the future.

Unified competition has brought baseball back to life! In the same year, the National Unified Baseball Competition, sponsored by the Ministry of Education, was begun. This gave the youth baseball movement another shot in the arm.

Huang Chao-hsi, executive director of the National Little League Baseball Association, points out that in the past youth baseball developed in the direction of "medals," led by the localities. In order to win, the best players would be chosen from several teams to form a super-team. Though other schools had the desire to participate, often they couldn't have much hope for success, and just gave up. This led to a greater and greater concentration of top talent, with fewer and fewer teams.

Today the baseball movement takes the school as the organizational unit, encouraging more schools to participate in more contests. Every school can participate in the Unified Competition, first competing with neighboring schools, then in the whole district, then competing for the Unified Competition trophy. This system not only gives schools incentive to contend for honor and prizes, it creates a good competitive network. This is because teams that win cannot merge, and schools don't want to let their good players get away, so every school can raise the sense of teamwork and overall quality of their squad. In this way, although there are no "dream teams," it produces many fine and well-ordered lineups.

Taitung is a good example of baseball setting its roots at the local level.

Wang Hsin-tai, director of guidance counseling at Pei Nan Primary School, who was in charge of the Taitung County Unified Competition, points out that before the 1989 tournament was held, there were only three or four teams left in Taitung. After the tournament began, the number increased to 28 overnight. Thereafter there were 68 teams in 1990, and 136 teams last year. Of Taitung County's 100 elementary schools, 71 formed teams.

The flowering of baseball in Taitung: Having more than 130 teams in one district meant that the when the Taitung area began activities for the Unified Competition, it was hectic to say the least. Under intense rivalry, each school saw participation in the championships as a true honor.

The Unified Competition also brought out the baseball potential in Taitung people. Baseball has long been a part of the lives of people in Eastern Taiwan. Most town halls in the mountain areas have a set of baseball equipment, and on New Year's or harvest festivals the townspeople who have gone out to the cities to work come back and quite naturally sides are chosen for a game.

In the extremely remote Luan Shan Primary School, the outstanding performances on the diamond are put up side by side on the same bulletin board with the model students with the best grades. Making baseball part of daily life is the ideal of those in the baseball world for the future development of the sport.

Has the Unified Competition been so miraculous, then, that it has brought a dramatic turnaround in the baseball movement?

This is a bit embarrassing in fact. One of the main factors stimulating schools has been the Ministry of Education system of giving financial prizes for organizing teams.

Baseball by its nature costs money. The basic equipment of any baseball team includes at least bats, gloves, balls, bases, and so on. The Ministry of Education thus compensates each school that organizes a team NT$50,000, and after the second year there will be further subsidies.

For typically cash-strapped grammar schools, this is definitely a way to help cover the costs of school activities. Since it develops physical education and also gives the school some extra money, it kills several birds with one stone. According to statistics of the Little League, it is very clear that the schools that organized teams after 1989 were mostly from resource-poor counties like Taoyuan, Nantou, and Taitung.

Reap what you sow: Getting away from the excessive focus on success and medals, only to replace it with the attraction of financing--isn't this just the same abnormal path?

Chen Hsiao-yu, sports reporter for the Minsheng Daily News, says that whether something is abnormal or not should be measured by the specific time and environment.

For example, in the early stage of the development of baseball, because it is still necessary to develop skilled personnel, and there are not enough coaches, the best players all end up concentrated on one team. Although this means there are less and less teams, it also provides solid training and develops many good players, creating a foundation for more coaches in the future.

Let's go back to the orientation to medals. To seek to win and be the best is human nature. On the playing field the greatest stimulus to that desire is that the chance to win is there, and the core is that those who win gain in confidence. The elitist system of the past definitely deprived the ordinary child of a chance to participate, but because the teams performed well in international competitions, the baseball movement developed in one path.

As for the financial incentive system, Alfred Chien, director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports at the Ministry of Education, admits that this is a stopgap measure, and might easily create a mindset of only acting when there's money to be had.

But the promotion of sports at the lower level has always used the school as the main unit, and the planning and use of the funding is mostly controlled by the schools. Sports is an expensive enterprise, needing money for equipment, competitions, team management.... But society still does not have the idea that you have to provide financial help to develop top athletes, and if the government doesn't subsidize the costs, who will?

Chen Hsiao-yu points out that the situation is not like Western countries, where you must pay yourself to join a team, and joining a neigh borhood club is one way, with the neighborhood hiring the coaches and taking care of raising money for expenses. Attachment to neighborhoods is still lacking in Taiwan, and using the schools to run sports activities is an expedient alternative.

Baseball's old friends return to the camp: Having schools promote the baseball movement has its historical background. Wu Ching-ho, general manager of the China Times Eagles professional baseball team, points out that the roots of baseball in Taiwan were set in the Japanese occupation era. The Japanese generally promoted activities through the education network, with baseball no exception. Thus baseball in Taiwan has followed the school system, with primary schools developing little league, middle schools developing "big" leagues, and high schools taking senior baseball.

Whatever the reasons, the recent flourishing of little league baseball has definitely brought enthusiastic expectations to the sports world. At the finals of the Unified Competition, held in the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in June of this year, there were signs of vigor both inside and outside the stadium.

Given the promotion of the "normalization" of baseball, many old friends of baseball were once again to be found. For example, Yu Hung-kai, one of the first generation of the Chin Lung team, brought his home town team--the Taitung Municipal Fu Hsing Primary School--to participate. The Little General of those days is now an imposing coach, giving steady instruction, off the field.

Chen Teh-cheng, principal of the Po Ai Primary School in Chiayi City, is the father of yesteryear's national little league team player Chen Hung-pi, who was unwilling to organize a team anymore because of the unhealthy development of little league. Today he sees little league ball as having hope, and has come out once again.

Chen Hsuan-chi, coach at the Tung Yuan Primary School in Taipei City, was a pro ballplayer. Today he has returned to the base level, and his performance has been, as you might expect, not run-of-the-mill. Tung Yuan took second place, wiping out the stereotype that city kids are all "chickens fattened up for the kill."

Lingering effects of "winning is the only thing": With the ripple effect, is the little league baseball movement thus in for smooth sailing?

In fact, not necessarily. When the Kung Yuan Primary School came home victorious, the coach repeatedly stressed how difficult it was to win this international softball trophy. "Second place is the same as being in last!" he explains. He adds that when you are the champion, people line up to welcome you, there are subsidies from the educational authorities, and you can even use the best field for practice--the municipal baseball stadium--but only the team that wins the right to represent the city qualifies. "You can't afford to lose!" he concludes.

It is precisely this "can't afford to lose" mentality that turns the athletic field--which should be exempt from considerations of personal gain--into a place filled with the "medal mindset."

A coach at a grammar school in Taitung said that no team should have more than 20 players, otherwise this will waste manpower and money. It seems he was illuminating one fact--teams are seen as an investment, and aren't willing to do those things which seem economically inefficient.

The case of a certain Taipei middle school is a curious example. In order to support the team, the parents' association spent a great deal of money to fix up the practice field. But when the team failed to show great success, the parents' willingness to support the team disappeared, and they let the fine field go completely to the weeds.

Chuang Yang-wen, director-general of the Slow Pitch Baseball Committee of the Taipei City Athletic Association, points out that the attitude toward winning and losing in little league has long needed a change. "In those days to lose to the U.S. would make one a virtual criminal to the nation--was it really all that serious?" he inquires, noting that this poison is still in the bloodstream.

How did Hong Yeh and Chin Lung win? In order to compete for the national title, the league champion in the Unified Competition two years ago, the Shan Hua Primary School in Tainan County, lured eight top players from Taitung. Although they were widely criticized, coach Wang Tsu-tsan would only say it was "all to develop top talent for the nation."

"We have the conditions to support us, so why not let us develop the talent?" He is referring to the annual budget of NT$500,000 appropriated by the Ministry of Education and county government and the NT$500,000 provided by the parents and local business. But he has not thought that if everyone had his viewpoint, it would never be possible to achieve the ideal of the spread of baseball at the local level.

It is just this "unwillingness to lose" mindset that makes it eternally impossible to realize the underlying ideal of promoting little league -- its educational nature. The ultimate goal of schools competing with each other to build beautiful fields and buy expensive equipment, as one coach has said, is that "the feeling you get from training is not very different from that in real competition."

Going back to the beginning, when we think of the Hong Yeh and Chin Lung teams of yesteryear, how did they win? Using round rocks as balls, playing happily--health and happiness being the reasons kids play ball in the first place. On the playing field, the educational nature will not change, unless adults get their hands on it--only then will it drift further and further from its original meaning.

[Picture Caption]

In 1969, the Chin Lung little league team from Tai chung won the Little League World Series for the first time. After returning to Taipei they were met by former president Chiang Kai-shek. There after, the whole Chin Lung team advanced to the Hua Hsing Middle School, which is seen as the beginning of the youth baseball "elite" system. (photo courtesy of Kuo Ping-sung)

In 1992, the Kung Yuan softball team from Tainan similarly won the world title. Although the public paid little attention, when they got back home there were welcoming flowers and congratulatory banners all the way from the School entrance to the classroom.

Pro teams are not only the hope of ball playing kids from the countryside, they are also the idols of city kids as well. At the summer camp held in the Taipei Municipal Stadium, coaches use "pro baseball cards" as rewards to encourage the kids to answer quiz question s about baseball.

Sometimes pro players will go to local areas to play and give the children a few tips on technique. (photo by Huang Li-li)

Sports as life. Today you head for home plate to score a run, tomorrow maybe it's my turn. This is an exciting scene from this year's Unified Competition. (photo by Lin Ming-yuan)

The Shan Hua Primary School in Tainan has the best-equipped field. The beautiful grass is maintained by the children themselves.

Yu Hung-kai, one of the players of the Chin Lung teams of yesteryear,is today a civil servant in Taitung. His unfulfilled dream of playing professional ball has now been given over entirely to his children.

How much parents by the side of the field wish their children would hurry up and grow up. And how much parental hope these young athletes must carry.

In 1992, the Kung Yuan softball team from Tainan similarly won the world title. Although the public paid little attention, when they got back home there were welcoming flowers and congratulatory banners all the way from the School entrance to the classroom.

Pro teams are not only the hope of ball playing kids from the countryside, they are also the idols of city kids as well. At the summer camp held in the Taipei Municipal Stadium, coaches use "pro baseball cards" as rewards to encourage the kids to answer quiz question s about baseball.

Sometimes pro players will go to local areas to play and give the children a few tips on technique. （photo by Huang Li-li）

Sports as life. Today you head for home plate to score a run, tomorrow maybe it's my turn. This is an exciting scene from this year's Unified Competition. （photo by Lin Ming-yuan）

The Shan Hua Primary School in Tainan has the best-equipped field. The beautiful grass is maintained by the children themselves.

Yu Hung-kai, one of the players of the Chin Lung teams of yesteryear,is today a civil servant in Taitung. His unfulfilled dream of playing professional ball has now been given over entirely to his children.

How much parents by the side of the field wish their children would hurry up and grow up. And how much parental hope these young athletes must carry.