San Jose: The High’s and Lo’s of Baseball

The most exciting thing so far about this mirror I am holding up to society and baseball is that people seem to be willing to look back into the mirror and talk. The more countenances I count, the more momentum this thing gains for me; and hopefully for the audience too. For example, John from Fremont was not the only person I met at the San Jose Giants game on July 9.

The manner in which I introduced myself to Po-Hsien will go unmentioned. Innocent enough, yet too embarrassing to detail, the incident hopefully puts the cap on a year of social and other faux-pas that I wish to never repeat.

Yet as they say, you can’t close the deal if you don’t ask for the close.

Madness to the method

I happened to buy a ticket two rows behind the home team dugout thinking that the Giants’ season ticket holders would come out in full force to root for the series sweep. I was wrong. There was no one else in my row. The row behind me was filled with children, and the women who sat in the row in front of me were more interested in making plans for the Chicago/Earth+Wind+Fire concert than they were about the San Jose 9.

So I ventured over toward the bleachers down the left field line where I could see those who did come for the game came with provisions such as coats, blankets, and hats that are the hallmark of any baseball game played at night, in July, near San Francisco Bay.

As I was settling in my new seat, I noticed roughly 10 fans of Asian heritage who were all standing up against the left field retaining wall. Three had cameras worthy of a serious journalistic assignment. Everyone else looked like the trendy young hipster I thought I was 15 years ago, but thinner.

They were all staring at, and trying to get the attention of the visiting team’s left-fielder, who I would learn from Po-Hsien was Kuo-Hui Lo from Taiwan. He had actually hit his 10th home run of the season an inning ago, which would stand as the Mavericks’ only run of the game. I had not made the connection.

Lo does not have eye-popping numbers, but his numbers have been improving every year. Ten dingers in ’09 is already two more than he hit last year at low-A Wisconsin. His greatest moment on a baseball field may have been at last year’s Olympics in Beijing when he reached base six times with four walks and a home run in an 8-7 loss to China in the preliminaries.

None of this information deterred Lo’s fans – including Po-Hsien. An intern at Apple in the iPhone group, Po-Hsien was holding a baseball that had Lo’s name on it both figuratively – and would actually display it later. I tried to get a sense of what Po-Hsien thought of baseball as I would from John from Fremont a couple of innings later, but that was not going to happen due to Po-Hsien’s younger age and our language barrier.

What I was able to learn from him was the tremendous sense of pride they all had for their countryman. I asked about Chien-Ming Wang, perhaps Taiwan’s most famous baseball player ever, and his face beamed. I asked why Taiwan always does well in the Little League World Series, and he said that they can essentially put an all-star team together every year because the island’s little league organization is set up that way. I asked him if he played baseball as a kid. He looked at me like I would look trying to take apart and reassemble his iPhone.

I have many friends of Taiwanese descent. I have also worked with many Taiwanese and seen their generosity and foresight. However, I know nothing about the Taipei Physical Education College, whether or not Taiwan has a professional baseball league, or if they sing during the 7th-inning stretch.

It does seem as though that one of the by-products of this country’s post-WWII history, which has included so much difficulty, includes a love for baseball and an unyielding support for others trying to make their way in places away from the island.

As I walked out of Municipal Stadium on Thursday night, all 10 fans stood waiting behind the rope protecting the team bus with cameras, baseballs, and smiles as if Elvis was about to leave the building. I asked them to pose for a picture. Po-Hsien is second from the right.

Their faces express a feeling that Elvis himself might say if he spoke Mandarin (though not all Taiwanese do):

Xie xie very much.

Baseball paparazzi