Yakyu came to Taiwan
(Photo by Mr. Hsieh Shih Yuan)
Generally speaking, people think “baseball” as a sport was originated from the English traditional sport, the cricket.It was first appeared in the North America. One more reliable version is that the baseball was invented by an American soldier Abner Doubleday. Japanese called baseball “the wild ball” (yakyu) in mandarin. This term was created by a Japanese in 1845. At the same year, this sport was brought into Taiwan when it became Japan’s colony then, and Japanese called it “the bat ball” (Bangqiu) in mandarin since then. In 1906, the first baseball team in Taiwan was formed, and the history of Taiwan baseball movement was started hereafter.
Introduction to Rules
KCH attending the Closing ceremony
(Photo by Wang Ron Chi)
There are two teams playing in a fan-like baseball field with four bases. The teams take turns playing defense and offense. A batter tries to hit the ball and run from home base to the first, second, and third base. The batter scores for his team when he safely returns to the home base. The batter is “out” if he misses 3 straight balls, or when the ball is caught by the defense team before the batter reaches a base. If 3 batters are “out”, the teams change positions. There are nine periods (2 halves) in a formal Major game, in which the team that scores most is the winner. Little league plays 6 periods, while junior league plays 7 periods. A game would end earlier if there is more than 10 points difference between the 2 teams (major at period 7, junior at period 5, and little league at period 4). If the teams tied at the end of the game, they would continue to play until there is a winner.
