台灣真「棒」

Abstract

一個曾經被日本殖民的小島，傳承了幾十年的棒球文化資產下來，現在台灣的職業棒球聯盟邁入第十五個年頭，也有越來越多的年輕好手，甚至是十幾歲的小伙子，都陸續往日本、美國挑戰更高的棒球夢想。台灣棒球充滿了許多故事。 本影片中跟著兩個棒球迷一起去看看到底台灣人是如何愛棒球，他們吃喝玩樂都捨不得離開棒球，隨著他們，我們拜訪了金臂人黃平洋好吃的便當，也南下到高雄遇見一位超級球迷，他收集了數不清的簽名球、雜誌、球棒、球帽等，他可以說是完成了他的棒球夢。 不只如此，我們也到台南看到一個稍微年長的棒球迷，用自己的家庭小工廠，靠著雙手的巧工，一針一線地完成一個個棒球手套，或許這也是另一種痴狂棒球的方式。談台灣棒球，職棒當然不能錯過，我們除了看到球迷在看台上的激情外，也拜訪兄弟象外野手陳致遠，加上棒球歷史學家的解析，我們對台灣棒球的古往今來有更透徹的認識。

Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and a baseball-crazy island, is seeing more and more its young baseball talents going overseas to pursue their dream, their baseball dream.

Ballparks here are known for the crazy fans with drums and megaphones and unlike the U.S., Taiwanese baseball fans prefer biandon or meal box to hotdogs. Also interesting are the synchronized cheers from the diehard fans in the stands and you see the Japanese influence here, not only from the players whose managers were mostly trained by the Japanese.

With two ordinary Taiwanese college students Danny and Ah Chao as hosts in the lifestyle documentary titled Baseball Fun, one episode of the Fun Taiwan series, the audience experiences the real baseball scene here in Taiwan. The Golden Arm, or Huang Pin Young, a former pro ballplayer, now runs a biandon eatery where the hosts frequent and down in Tainan, there’s a baseball fan makes his living by making gloves in his house as a tiny factory.

We also meet a young baseball historian who tells us that the history of Taiwan baseball can be traced back over a century ago and a longtime Taipei-based scout for the Seattle Mariners discovers that baseball in Taiwan is unique and always fun to watch.