棒球在臺灣意味着什麼?汗水,熱鬧和身份認同

TAOYUAN, Taiwan — As the batter steps to the plate, the clamor reaches its crescendo, a rhyming, thumping chant, often tailored to his name.
臺灣桃園——喧譁聲隨着擊球手踏上本壘板而達到高潮，人們反覆呼喊押韻的、通常專爲球手名字設計的口號，爲他加油。

Cheerleaders prance atop the dugout, accompanied by blaring recorded music or even live drums and brass instruments. Fans wield all manner of noise makers — clappers, pairs of plastic bats, small vuvuzelas — pretty much nonstop for nine innings.
拉拉隊員們在球員席上火辣起舞，伴隨着錄製好的響亮刺耳音樂，甚至現場演奏的鼓和銅管樂。球迷們用各種各樣的東西製造噪音——竹板、塑料球棒、小嗚嗚祖拉，九個局次幾乎沒有間斷。

They are not trying to distract from the opposing team’s batter, but to cheer on their own. How any batter manages to concentrate enough in the din to get a hit is anyone’s guess.
他們並不是要分散對方擊球手的注意力，而是在爲自己的球隊加油。天知道擊球手怎麼能在這樣的嘈雜聲中集中足夠的注意力，擊中棒球。

“Yi qi an da! Yi qi an da!” (pronounced ee-chi-ahn-dah) goes one of the more general chants, which is, roughly, the way to say, “Let’s get a hit together.”
“一支安打！一支安打！”是比較常用的加油口號之一，大意是：“大家一起來一次安打吧。”

On a recent night, Chin Jou-lin, an ebullient 28-year-old fan, was sitting along the right-field line at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in this city in northwest Taiwan. She said she had heard that in America you could actually hear the crack of the bat hitting the ball. She giggled, incredulous.
在最近的一個晚上，情緒高漲的球迷、28歲的金周琳（音）坐在臺灣西北部的桃園國際棒球場右外野邊線旁。她說，她聽說在美國看棒球可以聽到球棒擊球的聲音。她咯咯笑起來，對此表示懷疑。

“I can’t imagine,” she said.
“我不能想象，”她說。

To say baseball is a national obsession in Taiwan might be an overstatement since its fortunes have risen and fallen over the years. It does, however, seem deeply ingrained in its national identity as a small but spirited bastion of democracy.
說棒球是臺灣的全民狂熱運動可能有點誇張，因爲它的命運多年來一直起伏不定。然而，作爲一個規模不大但充滿活力的民主堡壘，在臺灣的國族身份中，這項運動有着根深蒂固的地位。

The 500-note of the island’s currency, the New Taiwan Dollar, depicts a baseball team, paying homage to its phenomenally successful youth teams, which, as any ex-Little Leaguer of a certain age will recall, dominated the Little League World Series from 1969 to 1996, winning 17 of 28 finals.
新臺幣500元紙幣上就印着一支棒球隊，是在向一支取得傲人戰績的臺灣少棒隊致敬，在某段時間參加過少棒大賽(Little League World Series)的人都記得，從1969年到1996年，臺灣的少棒隊曾在這項賽事稱霸，28次打入決賽17次奪冠。

At a time when China endeavors to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, baseball remains one of the island’s potent instruments of soft power and a path to international recognition. When the sport debuted in the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, Taiwan won the silver medal, losing the championship game to another small, baseball-crazed island, Cuba.
在中國努力在外交上孤立臺灣之際，棒球仍是臺灣強大的軟實力工具之一，也是臺灣獲得國際認可的途徑。棒球運動在1992年巴塞羅那奧運會上首次亮相時，臺灣獲得了銀牌，在決賽中輸給了另一個愛棒球愛得發狂的島國古巴。

“Brazil has football,” said Shih Fu-dao, a taxi driver, as he drove a colleague and me to another game, this time in Tainan, in southern Taiwan. “Taiwan has baseball.”
“巴西有足球，”出租車司機施複道邊開車邊說，他在送我和一名同事去臺南看另一場比賽。“臺灣有棒球。”

Quoting taxi drivers is a journalistic cliché that is best avoided, but Mr. Shih knew whereof he spoke. His son, Hsiang-kai, played professionally here for four seasons, from 2004 to 2008.
雖然引用出租車司機的話是新聞報道中最懶的做法，最好避免，但施複道是有資格的。從2004年到2008年，他的兒子施翔凱曾在這裏打過四個賽季的職棒。

For all its obvious connections to the American pastime, baseball is not an American import. It came through Japan, where baseball had already been played for a quarter century when the Japanese seized Taiwan in 1895. At the time, Taiwan was controlled by the Qing-era rulers of China.
儘管棒球顯然與美國人的娛樂活動有聯繫，但臺灣的棒球並不是從美國引進的，而是來自日本。1895年日本佔領臺灣時，日本人打棒球已有25年曆史了。那時，臺灣還在中國清朝統治者的控制之下。

Andrew D. Morris, a contributing writer to “Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An International Pastime,” wrote that the Japanese legacy shapes the game to this day, one more thing that distinguishes Taiwan’s identity from China’s.
曾爲《美國之外的棒球——一種國際性的消遣》(Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An International leisure)一書撰文的安德魯·D·莫里斯(Andrew D. Morris)寫道，這個日本人遺留下來的傳統一直影響着臺灣的棒球運動，這是臺灣身份認同感有別於中國的一個地方。

After the forces of Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan and established the Republic of China following the Communist Revolution in 1949, the new government sought to erase the vestiges of Japanese rule, except for baseball.
中國的共產黨革命在1949年成功後，蔣介石的軍隊撤到了臺灣，中華民國也把政府搬到了島上，民國政府曾試圖掃除日本統治的殘餘影響，但保留了棒球。

The game’s history since then has been as turbulent as the island’s transition to democracy.
從那時起，棒球的歷史就像這個島嶼走向民主進程一樣洶涌澎湃。

The Chinese Professional Baseball League — its very name a reflection of Taiwan’s complicated history with China — formed only in 1990, after a long era of martial law that ended in 1987.
中華職業棒球大聯盟——其名字本身就反映了臺灣與大陸的複雜歷史——1990年才成立，那是在1987年臺灣結束了長期戒嚴令之後。

Teams have formed and folded, the league expanding and contracting. Scandals over gambling tarred the game. In 1996, gangsters kidnapped players who apparently did not follow through on a fix.
球隊有聚有散，大聯盟規模時擴時收。賭球的醜聞曾給棒球帶來污名。1996年，有球員因爲沒有按照預先的安排打球而被黑幫綁架。

An even broader betting scandal erupted in 2008, leading to accusations against scores of players for accepting cash and sex with prostitutes to fix games. One team was expelled; another withdrew.
2008年還爆發了一場範圍更廣的賭球醜聞，數十名球員被控收受現金和性招待，換取在比賽中放水。一支球隊被聯盟開除，另一支退出了聯盟。

A year later scandal flared up again, implicating players from the Brother Elephants, one of the league’s most popular teams.
一年後，醜聞再次爆發，這次受牽連的是中華職業棒球大聯盟最受歡迎的球隊之一“兄弟象”的球員。

Attendance plummeted. Some blamed the scandals, but others blamed the increasing numbers of foreign players.
觀看球賽的人數直線下降。一些人把原因歸咎於醜聞，但另一些人則把原因歸咎於越來越多的外籍球員。

A newspaper columnist complained in 1998 that so many foreign pitchers were being signed that the pitchers’ mound was practically a “foreign concession,” a bitter allusion to China’s experience as a nation exploited by the colonial powers of Europe.
1998年，一位報紙專欄作家抱怨說，簽了這麼多的外國投手，以至於投手土墩簡直就是一個“租界”，這是對中國被歐洲列強壓榨經歷的苦澀隱喻。

At the game’s nadir in 2009, Taiwan’s government and league executives intervened and vowed to clean up the sport, improving salaries and policing gambling more aggressively.
2009年臺灣棒球處於最糟糕的境地時，政府和聯盟管理層進行了干預，他們誓言整頓這項運動，提高球員的工資水平，加強對賭球的監管。

The league since then has settled down with four teams: the Lamigo Monkeys; the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, named after the convenience store, which is ubiquitous here; the Chinatrust Brothers, the franchise that emerged from the tainted Brother Elephants; and the newest, the Fubon Guardians.
自那時起，職業棒球大聯盟和四個球隊達成了協議：Lamigo桃猿、統一7-ELEVEn獅（以這裏隨處可見的便利店7-Eleven命名的球隊)、中信兄弟（“兄弟象”因醜聞聲名狼藉後改用的名字），以及最新的“富邦悍將”球隊。

The Monkeys, winners of the championship three of the last four years, play their home games in a stadium beside the high-speed train station in Taoyuan. The Guardians signed a lease last December to play theirs in a stadium in New Taipei City. The other teams rotate among several stadiums, though they are broadly associated with their cities: the Uni-Lions in Tainan and the Brothers in Taichung.
四支球隊中，在過去四年中三次獲得冠軍的Lamigo桃猿有自己的專用主場，位於桃園捷運車站附近。去年12月，富邦悍將隊簽署了一份合約，進駐新北市的一個棒球場。其他球隊輪流使用不同城市的球場，雖然這些城市的球場與球隊所在地有關：富邦悍將用臺北的球場，統一獅用臺南的，中信兄弟用臺中的。

There is a consensus the league has been making a comeback. One reason is the most famous foreigner to play here: Manny Ramirez, a player with a stellar, though checkered career in the United States.
有共識認爲職業棒球大聯盟正再度迎來輝煌。其中一個原因是迄今最大牌的外國球員：曼尼·拉米瑞茲(Manny Ramirez)，此人在美國有過輝煌但起伏不定的職業生涯。

In 2013, after two suspensions for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy, Mr. Ramirez came to Taiwan. While he played in only 49 games, attendance soared and it has remained steady since.
2013年，拉米瑞茲曾兩次因違反美國職業棒球大聯盟的藥物政策而被停賽，那之後他來到了臺灣。雖然只參加了49場比賽，但觀看比賽的人數大增，此後一直保持穩定。

(His presence might have been fleeting, but he was here long enough to be the source of what is arguably the most memorable home run calls by a television announcer. Ever. “This ball is long gone,” he shouted, punctuating each word, “just like the ex-girlfriend who will never return!”)
（拉米瑞茲在臺灣的現身也許是短暫的，但他在這裏的時間，已經足以促使一位電視棒球解說員喊出史上最令人難忘的全壘打歡呼。“球早已不見蹤影，”解說員一字一頓地喊道，“就像是變了心的女朋友，回不來了！”）

While the league might not have the renown of Japan’s professional league, it has sent a dozen players to the Major Leagues, and continues to attract foreign players.
雖然可能沒有日本的職業聯盟那麼有名，但中華職業棒球大聯盟已經向其他國家的棒球大聯盟輸出了十幾名球員，並且在繼續吸引外國的球員。

“On the road it’s the worst,” said Michael Nix, an American pitcher for the Monkeys, describing the hometown cheers for the batters he has to face. “You get used to it.”
“打客場最痛苦了，”Lamigo桃猿的美籍投球手邁克爾·尼克斯(Michael Nix)提到自己要面對主場觀衆給打者助威的聲音。“你要習慣它。”

Attending games at the stadiums can feel like a tailgate party that rolls right into the stands before turning into an aerobic workout. Everyone seems to know not only the words to a lineup’s worth of chants, which have a delirious mix of English and Chinese, but also the dances that go with them.
在球場裏觀看比賽，有時感覺像是比賽前的車尾派對一直延續到了觀衆席，然後變成了一場有氧運動。每個觀衆好像都知道與參賽球隊有關的各種加油口號，知道口號中混和的極度亢奮的每個中文和英文詞，而且知道配合加油口號的舞蹈動作。

The experience at the ballpark can be so giddily polyglot that it seems only a little odd that a cheesy 1979 pop song by the German band, Dschinghis Khan, could be repurposed as a cheer for the Monkeys. “Go, go, Lamigo ….”
在棒球場裏看球可以是一個如此令人暈眩的多語言經歷，以至於德國樂隊成吉思汗(Dschinghis Khan)1979年演唱的一首俗氣流行歌曲，可以被稍加修改成爲全猿的加油歌似乎也不太奇怪了。“Go, go, Lamigo ....”

Ms. Chen is a devoted fan of the Monkeys but also of the vibe in the stands. She commutes regularly to the games from Miaoli, an hour south by train. She was there on a recent evening with her boyfriend.
陳女士不僅是全猿的忠誠球迷，還很喜歡看臺上的氣氛。她經常乘一個小時的火車從桃園以南的苗栗來看比賽。最近的一個晚上，她是和男朋友一起來的。

“He likes baseball,” she explained, speaking a little more loudly since at that particularly deafening moment the Monkeys were padding their lead over the Guardians, 15-2, “but he doesn’t like to dance.”
“他喜歡棒球，”她提高了聲音說道，因爲那一刻全猿正好把對悍將的領先擴大到了15比2，球場的聲音特別震耳欲聾。“但他不喜歡跳舞。”

Asked what attracted her to the game, she used a two-word phrase in Chinese whose meaning might not otherwise translate were it not uttered in a Taiwan ballpark on a sultry summer night:
當被問及是什麼原因吸引她來看比賽時，她用了一個兩個字的中文詞來回答，也許只有在一個悶熱夏夜的臺灣棒球場裏說出時，這個詞才最爲傳神：

“Hot noisy.”
“熱鬧。”