Sep 28, 2020
A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:
With major league baseball playoffs soon upon us, we thought that this episode might appeal to our baseball fans. It seems like a distant memory now, when about a month into the Coronavirus pandemic, Taiwan was the only place on the planet where live professional baseball was being played. My guest on this episode is Professor Andrew Morris whose research on baseball in Taiwan presents a fascinating new angle and way of seeing Taiwan’s history. I came across his writings and research when I when I was doing some research for my interview (episode 77) with Richard Wang the English-speaking broadcaster of CPBL games in Taiwan.
How important is baseball to Taiwan? Did you know that there’s a baseball related image featured on Taiwan’s currency or that Taiwan’s little league baseball team won 17 times from 1979 to1996?
Interestingly, Professor Morris began our interview by sharing his own mistaken assumption of baseball as a symbol of American culture in Taiwan. He went on to explain that baseball was introduced to Taiwan by Japan, while it was a colony of Japan from 1895-1945. We covered a broad range of topics including how baseball survived the arrival of the Kuomintang in Taiwan, the rise of Taiwan’s little league team, the establishment of a professional baseball league in Taiwan (CPBL) which has had its ups and downs, and the short-lived Taiwan Major League.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
Related Links:
Professor Andrew Morris’ Cal Poly webpage:
https://history.calpoly.edu/faculty/andrew-morris
Professor Andrew Morris’ Digital Commons page (which has full text
of some of his articles):
http://bit.ly/ADMorrisDC
Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan (Asia Pacific Modern Book 6) by Andrew D. Morris: https://amzn.to/3cALcmf
Kano vocational school of forestry and agriculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Chiayi_University
Kano (film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247566/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_(film)
ESPN Films 30 for 30: Little Big Men
(A film about the Kirkland National Little League of Kirkland, Washington, which defeated the Puzih little league of Chiayi County, Taiwan. The Kirkland, Washington team, was the first American little league team to win the Little League World Series in over a decade): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1717745/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Little_League_World_Series
Book recommendations about baseball in Taiwan:
Playing in Isolation: A History of Baseball in Taiwan by Junwei Yu: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Isolation-History-Baseball-Taiwan/dp/0803211406
Empire of Infields: Baseball in Taiwan and Cultural Identity, 1895-1968 by John J. Harney: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=John+J.+Harney%2C+Empire+of+Infields%3A+Baseball+in+Taiwan+and+Cultural+Identity&ref=nb_sb_noss
Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia by Joseph Reaves: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Joseph+Reaves%2C+Taking+in+a+Game%3A+A+History+of+Baseball+in+Asia&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Taiwan’s professional baseball league the CPBL’s English website: http://www.cpbl.com.tw/eng/history/
Watch Taiwan’s professional baseball league CPBL teams Rakuten Monkeys and Uni Lions on the Eleven Sports Taiwan Twitter account: