This Year in Baseball 2015

  • 10. Long Tan Baseball Field Scouting

March 29, I got a call from Adam, saying that he would be scouting in Long Tan baseball field, asking me if I would be interested to pay a visit as well.

Of course I was interested, so I drove from Chungli to LongTan with the help of Google Maps. I successfully arrived the Baseball Field without hitting some cars.

The scouting was short but it was probably the first time in my short career that I paid attention to a player instead of the game itself.

It was a short but fun experience.

  • 9. Czeching in Winter League

When I knew my mane Premek Chroust was coming to Taichung participating the Winter League in this December, I immediately contact him, trying to watch his game live.

However, it’s in Taichung and it’s 2 weeks after Premier 12, my schedule didn’t really allow me to take more days off just off to Taichung to watch baseball.

Thus, I only got to watch him and Team Europe play via youtube. Then time flew to the Championship weekend. At first I thought to meet Premek at the airport, seeing Team Europe off at the last minute.

 

Then, I thought, I would rather to meet them in Championship game for watching a game together instead of saying goodbye so abruptly at the last moment.

So, in the Sunday afternoon, I bought the THSR ticket, transferring in local train and took a taxi. It took me around 1,500 to watch a free but valuable game with my buddy Premek Chroust. He seemed more talkative and we had a good chat throughout the game.

It was a pity that the game was too short, lasting less than 3 hours, so our departure came a bit sooner than I usually expected.

But hey, this is baseball life. I know I would be watching the Sogard brothers and team Czech in the WBC Qualifier next March.

  • 8. MLB.tv Subscription

For the first time in my baseball life, I subscribed to MLB.tv streaming service. However, it was unfortunate that the Oakland Athletics chocked this season so I did not have too much impulse to stay up (wake up in midnight) to watch those doomed games.

Maybe next season would be better.

  • 7. CPBL Opening Day

It’s just another Opening Day. I think it is my second CPBL Opening Day. I was more addicted to CPBL season by season, it seems.

On October 1oth holiday, a bunch of friends and I decided to pay Chengcing Lake Baseball Field a visit. It was our first time to visit this stadium. And with the help of Afu, who had worked in Eda Rhinos organization, we got the family passes so it was gratis. Hooray.

The game was long lasting but not boring. We saw Lions player hit a grand slam to tie the game and we left when the game was tied in the top of the innings in extra. But then we learned from Internet that Eda Caption Hu said goodbye with a walk off grand slam homerun, a dramatic fashion to hand the UniPresident Lions a loss tough to swallow.

  • 5. Watching Lamigo Game with MLB China staff

That was probably the most American style of a game viewing experience in this year.

With Goldie’s connection, I left the work at 5pm, rushing to THSR and arrived at Taoyuan Baseball Stadium by 6:30pm. Then these MLB China staff and girlfriend of the starting pitcher was rooting for the home team. Some danced like there’s no one watching and of course we were all on TV for that night.

When I thought the wild night was over, we got invited to the clubhouse, met and chatted with the foreign pitchers on the team. Before calling it a night, I got to take a picture with Lin Hong Yu. Priceless.

  • 4. Thank you Big Three – Hudson vs. Zito

Oh man, my childhood memory. Tim Hudson and Barry Zito, squaring off at the end of their respective careers.

No joking. I was darn serious to consider to fly to San Francisco just to watch this epic matchup.

I looked up the flight fare and tried to connect if I could be sure to get the ballgame ticket. Then the reality hit me as I didn’t have a valid American visa and since I do not have the intelligent chip passport so the ESTA VISA waiver program is not applicable. In the end, I watched this game on MLB.tv.

 

Should I be glad that I didn’t actually fly to Oakland to watch this epic failure? Neither of the two starters lasted more than 3 innings, being knocked out quite early and ugly. It was not the way that I would want to watch them pitch against former teammate. But hey, it’s the reality.

  • 3. Taiwan Series Game 1 & Game 7

Taiwan Series 2 for two victories. How about that?

And it was also my first time to watch a title-clinching ballgame in pro baseball. Not to mention that the starting pitcher tossed a no-hitter on a zero day rest. Inhumane, no pun intended.

 

  • 2. Spring Training

Thanks for the encouragement of Ryo, a Japanese friend with whom I met last year in U21 in Taichung. We embarked on a 3 day journey from Taipei-Taichung-Kaohsiung and Pintung. We visited the baseball heroes exhibition in Taipei, meeting Chen Chin Feng. Then we visited 3 stadiums in 3 days. Crazy it was also my first time to visit the Pingtung Stadium.

And we took a picture with the annual MVP, Lin Chih Sheng 31.

  • 1. Premier 12 – The Cuba Crisis

Finally we came down to the last and the most memorable part of my baseball 2015.

Back in mid 2015, Hilario told me if I was interested, I could probably work as an interpreter in Premier 12. I thought about it and decided to give it a shot. Then CTBA eventually got me on board at the last moment.

It was a totally shocking experience to work with both CTBA and Team Cuba. The first day picking the team up at the airport, it was my first time to see Victor Mesa in such close distance.

To be honest, I was a bit intimidated.

Then as time went by, I started to realized that they are just another human beings, just speaking a different languages. I tried all I could to solve their trivia and important daily puzzles. Each tasks seemed more difficult than the previous solved ones. It was a fun ride but sometimes it was so energy draining that I wished I could have a way to escape them.

But I could, since there’s no other people who can be the interpreter except for Verano and I, we even got calls from reception in the middle of the night on laundry issue or there were some Cuban at the coutner in need of translating. OMG. I did not know how we could survive the 2 weeks.

On the field, they acted sort of professionals. Off field, they were looking for every opportunity to do business, earning some cash and buying some tech products to bring back to Cuba.

My most unforgettable experience would be Victor Mesa saying thank you in a genuine and warm voice on the bus back to the hotel when they were defeated by Taiwan on Lin 31’s 3 run shot. That was grande!

In the end, they were eliminated by Korea and I really hoped they could advance but Korea is the superior team in all aspect. And the Cubans know it even before the game. Their elimination was inevitable.

Watching those videos, I started to miss those Cubans.

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