"In looking for players, we're less interested in their ability than in their integrity," says Chang Chen-hung, the team's founder.

Back when the team was formed, it was done so with the idea of bringing together alumni who had gone their separate ways and lost touch with one other after graduation by using a common interest they had all shared while in school--baseball.

Just for fun: The team's 12-year history (it was founded in 1980) makes it a rarity not just in Taipei but in all Taiwan. A full third of the players have been with the team since its inception, and all of them are enthusiastic about practicing and handling management and organization.

The team is no longer made up solely of Taipei Commercial College alumni. "There weren't enough male students at our school," says Chang Chen-hung. As a result, the team started bringing in players from the outside in its third year. But because it was founded to promote friendship, the aim of "playing for fun" has never changed.

Taipei Commercial College is rare among good softball teams in not trying to bring in ringers or lure strong prospects from other teams. Most of the players came into contact with softball for the first time only after joining the team. Even though some of them had played baseball as kids, it was "the kind where you use thick leaves as gloves and wooden sticks as bats," manager Lin Tu-sheng says. Very few are real ballplayers.

Losing is allright: As a result, on an off day they're apt to get drubbed. In the finals of the all Taiwan fall tournament this year, for instance, they lost the first game 21 to 9 to Tung Sheng Communications, a team they had beaten last year. Even with such a bad score, the team won't think of looking for a star player just to make them look-good. "The thing to do is to go back and work harder at practice. Finding someone to play for you is a disgrace!" says team member Yen Jung-cheng.

"Losing is all right. But goofing around or not taking the game seriously is out," Lin Tu-sheng says. Each prospective new member has to go to practice for four weeks first. Then a panel made up of the manager, the team president and the coaches determine whether he is really interested in playing and willing to concentrate and devote himself to the game. He won't be accepted unless he goes all out on the field and gets along well with his fellows.

Once you're on, there aren't any strict team rules. The membership fee is NT$400 a month. The team is like a big family, drawing everyone to pitch in. More and more people have joined, and now the team has expanded into three squads: red, white and blue.

Like a big family: Due to its lengthy history and the fact that few of its members have quit, the team has naturally fallen into older, middle and younger generations. Team founder Chang Chen-hung, manager Lin Tu-sheng and current team president Liu Hsien-ming all belong to the older generation. "It's easy to spot the old-timers," Lin jokes: The lower the uniform number, the older the player.

There aren't any hard and fast rules about special treatment for the older players. But the respect afforded them shows up in not calling them by their nicknames and in reserving special uniform numbers for them. No. 99, for instance, is always worn by the captain, who makes the greatest contribution to the team. No. 88 is the vice president's, and 77 is the general manager's. Newcomers easily sense the distinctions in "family seniority."

The old-timers aren't overbearing. If their play is poor, they're demoted to the second squad or even the third, just the same as the youngsters. According to Cheng Chen-hung, most of the players from the original team have gone onto the second squad in the last few years due to age and declining strength. They may have less of chance to shine in the limelight, but they achieve the same effects in fitness and recreation and their pleasure in playing hasn't diminished one whit.

Beyond baseball: And the older players offer the younger ones a lot to learn in terms of life and career experience. There are factory managers, the owner of a fabric factory, senior officials in government agencies--no matter whether they are partners or rivals in business or career, on the field they all play by the book.

Yen Jung-cheng, who was born in 1967 and has been on the team for just two years, says that players who are in shape and playing well make the roster and those who aren't sit on the bench. Even if they mishandle several plays, they rarely gripe or try to pass the blame. "It's all for fun. What's there to beef about?" says Chang Chen-hung, who is now a coach on the second squad.

Chiu Sheng-en, born in 1965, says that the greatest lesson he has learned from the other players is to "take tense situations in stride." The baseball diamond is like life. The more important something is, the more slowly and carefully it has to be handled. A little impatience can spoil a large project. Homes run are great, but they can't be forced. They'll come when they come. The surest approach to winning is to take the game one hit at a time.

The bearing of a general? Lin Tu-sheng, who works in the Directorate General of Telecommunications, relates that his friends say that in the past few years he has acquired the bearing of a general. He built it up playing on the team. "The hand holding the ball used to tremble as soon as I stepped on the rubber," he says. Nowadays, he not only holds the important position of head coach but is also responsible for keeping players on the team in touch. The clearest progress he has made after playing for several years is that he no longer places so much emphasis on personal success or failure, whether in his career or as an individual.

"Winning isn't the achievement of just one person, but losing is everyone's fault." That's the way their softball coach in college, the late Lin Chia- nai, used to put it. As hard as it may be to achieve, the team has taken it to their hearts as their motto.

[Picture Caption]

Ten or twelve runs behind and he drops the ball! Taipei Commercial College was trounced in the first game of the finals of this year's fall tournament. (photo by Fang Chiu-hu)