The Maple Leaf (Hongye) Village team rose in the 1960s. The principal found their students did not like to go to school. Even if they got into the classroom, they were not interested in textbooks.? Therefore, he decided to form a baseball team to allure those students to school. The Maple leaf squad made good grade at their debut, and became famous hereafter.
Became famous in 1968 Student Cup
Maple Leave Won the 20th championship
(Photo by Mr. Hsieh Shih Yuan)
The game that made Maple Leaf famous was the 20th Student’s Cup in 1968. Financed by Mr. Cai of Prince Magazine, Maple Leave was able to overcome the obstacles and took part in the tournament. There were 36 teams took part in the game, but Maple Leave came out as the Champion and caused a whirlwind in Keelung, Taipei, Taichung,etc..
Victory Over Wakayama in 1968
The game with Japanese team
(Photo by Mr. Hsieh Shih Yuan)
In August 1968, the Maple Leaf team earned the right to play with a visiting team from Wakayama, Japan after winning the island wide Students’Cup tournament held in Taipei. They then became superstars after two victories over Wakayama at the Taipei Municipal Stadium. Each of these two games attracted more than 20,000 fans to get tickets. More than that, those fans were joined by an island-wide television audience treated to more than 13 hours of Taiwan Television broadcasts for the first game in the TV history.
The Shadowed Maple Leave Legend
Maple Leave Memorial Hall
(Photo by Mr. Hsieh Shih Yuan)
However, a formal letter on June 1968 pointed out that some of the players in the Maple Leaf team were under other people’s name and overage. Unfortunately, it was proved true later in 1969. Those players then were forgotten gradually by the audience after a short period of spotlight. People did not care how they live afterwards. Actually, most of them did not have decent lives. The Maple Leaves finally withered and were forgotten.
(source from Taiwan Baseball Centennial, Mr. Hsieh Shih Yuan、Ms. Huang Su Ya)
