A Young Bear Gets Back in the Game

The field is a stage. There is still some time before the show begins, and the lights are not yet lit. The men out on the turf jog the field, stretch out, and talk to each other.

Just discharged from the army, Wu Ssu-you sports a crew cut, the number 46 on his uniform and a couple dozen new baseballs. At a little over 20 years of age, he has been in the game for more than ten years, but he has just become a rookie player on the La New Bears, so for now his stats are all zeros.

Today is May 4, and the last-place Bears are heading to Taichung to face the Sinon Bulls, last year's second-placers. The coaches have set Wu Ssu-you to be the starting pitcher. He says, "When did I start throwing a fork ball? How is that even I don't remember?" Wu has never been much of a worrier, and though he is keyed up in anticipation of the game, on reading the newspaper reports on the day's upcoming action he can still make a joke at his own expense.

Even though Wu once dominated the high-school baseball leagues and was known (along with Pan Wei-lun) as one of the "left and right hands" of the Meiho Senior High School team's invincible defense, after his four years away from the pitcher's mound, most people have long since forgotten about him. Pan Wei-lun, who made it to the big leagues a bit earlier than Wu, has already made his mark: last year he took home the Rookie of the Year award and was chosen for the Chinese Taipei team in the Asian Championships. This year he is even more solid, going head to head with the Sinon Bulls' Yang Chien-fu as one of only two top-notch pitchers from Taiwan in the league. But what about Wu Ssu-you? The media has gotten it wrong, even the kind of balls he throws best. "In any case," he says, "I'm really happy to be back on the field."

Most people in their twenties start their careers with a clean slate, no matter what successes or failures they have had in their life. But for most people chosen for pro baseball teams, the realities of life and the harshness of competition began when they were children. For a twentysomething like Wu Ssu-you, while he may be new to the big leagues, he has been working at the game since he was a child, and has already seen a few ups and downs in his life.

If you don't believe it now, you will if you see the scars on his left wrist.

Wu Ssu-you in his continuous pitching motion. Wu's great coordination and easy pitching style make him a rare sight among left-handed pitchers.

Personality can make the difference

Coaches who have worked with Wu Ssu-you often make two simple comments about him: they have a high opinion of his talent, but a low opinion of his personality.

It's true, this left-hander with a super-strong wrist and elegant throwing motion always gives people the impression that he is not a hard worker; he even came across this way to people back in 1998, when he was chosen to play for the national team for the first time. He was still a high school student back then, and when he put on the blue and white Chinese Taipei uniform, head coach Huang Wen-sheng was worried about him more than any other player.

When the team arrived in Illinois in the United States, Huang kept a close eye on Wu, who was always looking around like he window shopping. "Keep up with us," Huang told him, "because if you get lost, you'll be left here alone in America."

But even if he was often scatterbrained and had a dull look in his eyes off the field, he was extraordinary when he took the mound, almost never disappointing Coach Huang. With a 145-km/h fastball coming off his hand, a slow breaking ball that cut a huge arc on its way to the plate, and a tricky slider, hitters on the opposing teams could see Wu's pitches dance their way to the plate, but one after another they failed to get a bat on the ball. With the help of Wu's hard work, many people thought the 1998 Chinese Taipei Youth Team would take first place. Indeed, they defeated one strong team after another, but took second place after suffering a surprise defeat in the final game. Nonetheless, Wu Ssu-you's talent astonished US Major League Baseball scouts. One of the most enthusiastic scouts, Jim Stoeckel of the Los Angeles Dodgers, worked with an interpeter to inquire about Wu's background. When scouts look at a player, in addition to considering such physical talents as arm strength, speed, and adaptability, the player's character and mental development are also important factors. One of the questions Stoeckel asked was, "What's your favorite subject in school?" He was surprised to hear Wu simply say, "I don't know-I'm always asleep at school." This reply left the scout speechless for a while and brought a roar of laughter from both adults and children who were there.

Wu Ssu-you in his continuous pitching motion. Wu's great coordination and easy pitching style make him a rare sight among left-handed pitchers.

Goodbye, youth! Goodbye, dreams!

Obviously, this hilarious response did not scare off the Dodgers, because the scout decided to cross the Pacific to find the home of the Wu family in faraway Pingtung. In January of the next year, Chen Chin-feng, who was five years older than Wu Ssu-you and had been batting fourth in the lineup for the Chinese Taipei team, took a US$680,000 signing bonus for a six-year contract with the Dodgers, becoming the first player from Taiwan to be chosen for the US Major Leagues since 1975. That same year, the Dodgers invited Wu Ssu-you to the US for a physical exam, indicating that Wu had strong chances to follow Chen Chin-feng to "the kingdom of baseball" to face a test of even higher standards.

But the dream that had seemed almost a reality suddenly faded. Not yet 18 years old, Wu suffered his first disappointment.

"That year, the Dodgers had only one agent for negotiations in Taiwan, and he decided to take as much as he could," Wu recalls. "He demanded a commission of 20% of the signing bonus and salary. My father refused." Wu's family felt that since he was very young and had never been injured, he would still have plenty of opportunities. They never imagined, however, that the accident that followed would not only wreck his dream of going to the American big leagues, but would also come close to ending his career as a baseball player altogether.

While living at his high school, he got into an argument with a coach because of a misunderstanding. "In a fury, the coach picked up a rattan stick to hit me, and every blow hit my left arm. When it was over, he sent me to the hospital right away."

A misunderstanding? For some time neither Wu Ssu-you nor any of the other people involved have been willing to say anything about it. What was clear, though, was that on his million-dollar left wrist, the membrane around the bone was ruptured-and the sport of baseball would not hear from him again for the next four years. With four scars from four separate operations, Wu continued to exercise during the recovery process, but could not pitch at all.

Wu Ssu-you in his continuous pitching motion. Wu's great coordination and easy pitching style make him a rare sight among left-handed pitchers.

Injury on the mound

Back in the days when Taiwan dominated the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, players studied how to throw breaking balls while they were too young, and as a result many of them saw their athletic careers cut short. Decades later, baseball in Taiwan has taken solid strides forward, but many players have still paid a painful price in the name of victory.

In addition to throwing breaking balls too young, starting pitchers in little league and youth leagues often throw too many pitches per game. Cheng Chia-min, for example, who was much better known than Wu Ssu-you or Pan Wei-lun when they were chosen for the Chinese Taipei team, wrecked his pitching arm by long overuse. Aside from these players, several excellent pitchers in their twenties all have injuries that have kept them from meeting their potential, including Tsao Chin-hui, who played in the US, or Hsu Chu-chien and Lin Ying-chieh, who stayed in Taiwan.

Although the reasons for the injury to Wu Ssu-you's left hand are different from other players of his generation, a lack of a sense of how to protect themselves is clearly a common source of problems for them all.

Wu Ssu-you and Chen Chao-ying (right) are the team's two youngest players. As these "undervalued stocks" and former Youth League teammates revive their partnership, their growth will be a test for coaches' patience.

In search of glory once again

On May 4, even though Wu is nervous, there's still a smile on his face. For the first game of his formal return to the baseball diamond, the catcher will be Chen Chao-ying, his partner from the 1998 Chinese Taipei team. Before the game, Wu Ssu-you thinks about his pitching strategy and adjusts his mood; at the same time, he unconsciously rubs his left hand. After so many years, no one knows whether it will stand up to the test.

When the game starts, the new player wearing no. 46 easily gets the first two batters out on ground balls. "I told Ssu-you, don't worry at first about striking them out," said Chen Chao-ying. "Let them hit, and then use the power of your teammates to handle them." According to Chen, the start of the game went according to plan.

After the first two batters were out though, Cheng Chao-hsing, batting third, reached first on a ground ball that went straight to third and popped out of the third baseman's glove. On the next at-bat, Wu Ssu-you threw four straight balls to Chang Tai-shan, the Chinese Taipei team's premier hitter. Following that, Huang Chung-yi cracked a base hit, and then the Bulls got another base hit.... In a little over three innings, Wu gave up a total of four runs (with two earned runs). It wasn't a great performance, of course, and Wu looked unhappy when the game was over. The road back to the pitcher's mound, it seems, is a tough one.

After a few outings, Wu Ssu-you still has problems lining up his sights and hitting the strike zone and, as a result, has suffered two more losses. The coaching staff, however, continues to give him opportunities, letting him start one game per week. As he gradually puts the shadow of the four years of his hand injury behind him, his pitch speed has returned to the level of 144 km/h.

His former high school teammate Pan Wei-lun has reminded Wu many times that he needs to work a little harder. "He has to start with controlling the ball. Once he gets his feel for the ball back, he will be a really good pitcher," says Pan.

After getting through a low point in his life and gradually putting the problems with his hand injury behind him, the stage has been set. Wu Ssu-you, from now on, the rest depends on you!