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Wang Chien-Ming's
outstanding achievements in
Major League Baseball (MLB)
have won Taiwan loads of
international attention.
Because of Wang's almost
flawless performance in the
MLB, Gary Lavelle, the
superstar's once minor league
coach (and ex-major leaguer
himself), came to Taichung to
learn more about the
development of baseball in
Taiwan.

Discover More Wang Chien-Ming

Words and pictures by Taichung City Goverment
Translated by Sho Huang

The visit, which was completely sponsored by The Landis Taichung, started on July 11 and was Lavelle's first trip to Taiwan. During his stay, he paid special visits to Mayor Jason Hu and the Taichung City Baseball Association. In addition, he also attended the practices of national baseball teams and provided suggestions to coaches and players of different ages in the hopes of discovering players with great Director potential.

Taichung Information Bureau Chen Yong-fong said that Mayor Hu had been pushing for Taichung to become Taiwan's baseball capital. This is evidenced by building the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium and the hosting of the Intercontinental Cup Baseball tournament in 2006. What's more, baseball's World Cup and Asian Cup will be held here at the end of the year. Hopefully, Lavelle know-how and sharing of his experiences will help Taiwan create excellent players and gain more support from the public.

Lavelle used to pitch for the Giants and the Blue Jays, both MLB teams. After his retirement, he started coaching in the minor leagues. Within three years of coaching Wang Chien-ming, Lavelle said that he and the player were doing a language exchange. Lavelle also learned the famous Taiwanese folk song, "Tian Hei Hei" (Dark, Dark Sky) from Wang. After singing the Taiwanese star's praises for being calm and stable while pitching, Lavelle suggested that he should work on his sinker ball, which, as we know, became his powerful trump card. Lavelle also speaks highly of Wang's personality. The coach says that Wang is mature, modest and respectful. He can, however, be too quiet. Besides chatting about philosophy and baseball skills with the pitcher, Lavelle also found chances to learn Chinese with him and still remembers how to say "How are you?" and "I'm fine."

Although suffering from jet lag, the coach still went to the Chinese Taipei baseball team's practice the day after he arrived in Taiwan. Besides giving some tips to the pitcher, he couldn't resist the temptation and practiced some pitching himself. After complimenting the player's fundamentals, Lavelle said that he enjoyed working with teen players because of the potential—that age usually provides the opportunity to train well-rounded players, players that can pitch, catch and hit well. He also added, jokingly, that the bigger the players' backsides are, the faster they pitch.

With Deputy Mayor Xiao as company, Lavelle visited the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium and He praised the modern facility and green grass. However, he did have some suggestions for improvements, such as adding more seats, wrapping the poles with foam to avoid player injury and mowing all of the field's grass to the same length.

As many Taichungers know, the city's own Li Xin Elementary School Baseball Team just won an Asian championship, giving them the opportunity to play in the World Games, is hosted in the United States. After making a special trip to their practice and observing each pitcher individually, Lavelle gave each player suggestions and promised to watch them play in the World Games. He used Wang as a role model for the young players, telling them that the pitcher's calm and hard-working attitude were the keys to his excellent performance. Although lately his performance has been affected because of an injury, he still has a good chance of winning the top honor in the Major League Baseball—the Cy Young Award.
Mr. Lavelle also visited the city government and did a bit of sightseeing. He liked the delicious food and said he wished he could bring a pearl milk tea shop back to the States. When discussing Wang and the state of Taiwanese baseball with Mayor Hu, Lavelle explained that he was only one of Mr. Wang's coaches, and that hard work and training at the very beginning of a player's career is critical. In Taiwan, a lot of young players look up to Wang and believe that if they work hard, they might become the next Wang Chien-ming.

Regarding Taiwan's baseball environment, Hu stressed the importance of hosting more international games to bring Taichung's name to every corner of the world; one of the most important promotion factors is public support. After saying he was incredibly impressed with the development of baseball and the performance of the players in Taiwan, Lavelle stated his willingness to help if he was needed and said he hoped to come back to Taiwan in the future—if only for the milk tea.