There have been a lot of familiar faces at the ballpark since professional baseball got under way this year, but not many have showed up at every single game. Tonson Hong, president of the Brother Hotel and secretary general of the R.O.C. Professional Baseball League, is one of them.

In the birth process of the new league, Hong has played a pivotal role. Not that delivery would never have occurred, but it would certainly have been longer and more painful.

Commonly sporting dark glasses and leisure shoes and looking for all the world like the owner of a grocery store rather than the president of a luxury hotel, Hong has always harbored a far-reaching ambition: enabling the Republic of China to join the ranks of countries with professional baseball. He began to work toward that goal as early as five years ago, leading the way with his own company as an example.

When the R.O.C. baseball team returned from the Los Angeles Olympics in 1985, many of the players were rather dispirited, despite having won a bronze medal, because of the bleak job prospects ahead. But Hong stepped forward and offered the top players a salary of NT$30,000 to NT$50,000 a month, extremely generous at the time, to join his company team and continue honing their skills.

Even then baseball people all knew that his real purpose in forming the squad was to serve as a warmup for a genuine professional team, but they still refused to believe that the right time was at hand.

The question of whether or not to go professional was much discussed at the time. Hong, as one of the idea's leading advocates, believed that the public was eager for more leisure activities yet had never been offered the chance to watch really high-level baseball over a season of games, so the time for a professional league had arrived.

Most baseball people opposed the idea, however, feeling that conditions were not ripe at all. There were not enough sites, they said, the facilities were run down, the players were not good enough, and the fans might well not materialize. Some alarmists even believed that forcing the birth of professional baseball at this time would not only fail to achieve the desired result but would shorten the life of amateur baseball, which is still being run in a haphazard manner.

But Hong, who is credited with the persistence and determination of a Founding Father, remained unmoved. The reasoning he adhered to was simple: "If we don't act now, it'll be too late." Many first-rate players from world championship teams are still around, he would say, and they will bring in the fans. If we wait a few more years, judged by the decline of baseball in recent years, the next generation of players won't be as good as the present one and "we won't be able to do it even if we'd like to!"

Any insufficiency of adequate players could be made up for by bringing in foreign players, and poor playing fields and facilities could be renovated beforehand. As for the spectators, "instead of speculating whether they may or may not show up, it would be better to make sure the games are exciting," Hong kept urging.

"From a management point of view, what business doesn't start out small at first and then slowly expand?" he would say. He worked hard to persuade other businesses to form teams of their own and set up an organization to supervise the system--the Professional Baseball League. After much legwork, he came up with President Enterprises Corp., Mercuries and Associates and Wei-Chuan Food Corp., which, together with his own Brother Hotel, formed the four teams for the new league.

"If there are problems involving money, then let me handle them," he used to say. The other teams would reply, "Whenever there are problems, just bring them up and we'll pitch in too." "But what if the idea is turned down or a hitch in talks stalls progress?" he would counter with urgency.

Hong not only contributed a great deal of financial support to renovating facilities and setting up the new league, he also oversaw the hiring of coaches, league employees and even umpires and commentators.

His criteria were simple: a clean background, upright morals, no bad habits and a firm desire to contribute to the sport of baseball. As a result, quite a few coaches and umpires who had not received much attention or had disappeared from the scene entirely suddenly jumped into view.

Why has Hong been so stubborn and persistent? "I've just wanted to do something for society" is his usual answer.

But people who know him best believe he is simply a person who truly loves baseball and wants to see it played well.

Lin Chiang, director of game affairs for the league, recalls that when he used to teach children baseball on the athletic fields at National Taiwan University in 1975, he often saw a middle-aged man nearby happily looking on. It was only later he found out that the man was the owner of the Brother Hotel. The team Hong formed was also the only large company team whose members trained together every week for ten years.

Where there's a will there's a way, the adage goes. Tonson Hong has finally gotten his wish and realized his lifelong dream. People in baseball all believe he's the greatest examplar of that saying.

[Picture Caption]

Generally averse to exposure, Tonson Hong (left) broke precedent in showing a Japanese reporter around this newly renovated stadium at a pre-season press conference. The costs of renovation were mostly paid for by himself. (photo by Vincent Chang)

Workouts at Lungtan field have been a weekly fixture over the years for the employees of the Brother Hotel. (photo by Huang Li-li)

Workouts at Lungtan field have been a weekly fixture over the years for the employees of the Brother Hotel. （photo by Huang Li-li）