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棒球在台湾意味着什么？汗水、热闹和身份认同
Taiwan Baseball? It’s ‘Hot Noisy,’ and Ingrained in National Identity.
STEVEN LEE MYERS
最后更新于：2018-08-07 11:02:20
台湾桃园——喧哗声随着击球手踏上本垒板而达到高潮，人们反复呼喊押韵的、通常专为
球手名字设计的口号，为他加油。
TAOYUAN, Taiwan — As the batter steps to the plate, the clamor reaches its
crescendo, a rhyming, thumping chant, often tailored to his name.
拉拉队员们在球员席上火辣起舞，伴随著录制好的响亮刺耳音乐，甚至现场演奏的鼓和铜
管乐。球迷们用各种各样的东西制造噪音——竹板、塑料球棒、小呜呜祖拉，九个局次几
乎没有间断。
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.
他们并不是要分散对方击球手的注意力，而是在为自己的球队加油。天知道击球手怎么能
在这样的嘈杂声中集中足够的注意力，击中棒球。
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.
“一起安打！一起安打！”是比较常用的加油口号之一，大意是：“大家一起来一次安打
吧。”
“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.”
在最近的一个晚上，情绪高涨的球迷、28岁的金周琳（音）坐在台湾西北部的桃园国际棒
球场右外野边线旁。她说，她听说在美国看棒球可以听到球棒击球的声音。她咯咯笑起来
，对此表示怀疑。
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.
“我想像不出来，”她说。
“I can’t imagine,” she said.
说棒球是台湾的全民狂热运动可能有点夸张，因为它的命运多年来一直起伏不定。然而，
作为一个规模不大但充满活力的民主堡垒，在台湾的国族身份中，这项运动有着根深蒂固
的地位。
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.
新台币500元纸币上就印着一支棒球队，是在向一支取得傲人战绩的台湾少棒队致敬，在
某段时间参加过少棒大赛(Little League World Series)的人都记得，从1969年到1996年
，台湾的少棒队曾在这项赛事称霸，28次打入决赛17次夺冠。
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.
在中国努力在外交上孤立台湾之际，棒球仍是台湾强大的软实力工具之一，也是台湾获得
国际认可的途径。棒球运动在2002年巴赛隆纳奥运会上首次亮相时，台湾获得了银牌，在
决赛中输给了另一个爱棒球爱得发狂的岛国古巴。
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 2002, Taiwan won the silver medal, losing the championship game
to another small, baseball-crazed island, Cuba.
“巴西有足球，”出租车司机施福道（音）边开车边说，他在送我和一名同事去台南看另
一场比赛。“台湾有棒球。”
“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.”
虽然引用出租车司机的话是新闻报导中最懒的做法，最好避免，但施师傅是有资格的。从
2004年到2008年，他的儿子施翔凯曾在这里打过四个赛季的职棒。
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.
尽管棒球显然与美国人的娱乐活动有联系，但台湾的棒球并不是从美国引进的，而是来自
日本。1895年日本占领台湾时，日本人打棒球已有25年历史了。那时，台湾还在中国清朝
统治者的控制之下。
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.
曾为《美国之外的棒球——一种国际性的消遣》(Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An
International leisure)一书撰文的安德鲁·D·莫里斯(Andrew D. Morris)写道，这个
日本人遗留下来的传统一直影响着台湾的棒球运动，这是台湾身份认同感有别于中国的一
个地方。
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.
中国的共产党革命在1949年成功后，蒋介石的军队撤到了台湾，中华民国也把政府搬到了
岛上，民国政府曾试图扫除日本统治的残余影响，但保留了棒球。
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.
从那时起，棒球的历史就像这个岛屿走向民主进程一样汹涌澎湃。
The game’s history since then has been as turbulent as the island’s
transition to democracy.
中华职业棒球大联盟——其名字本身就反映了台湾与大陆的复杂历史——1990年才成立，
那是在1987年台湾结束了长期戒严令之后。
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.
球队有聚有散，大联盟规模时扩时收。赌球的丑闻曾给棒球带来污名。1996年，有球员因
为没有按照预先的安排打球而被黑帮绑架。
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.
2008年还爆发了一场范围更广的赌球丑闻，数十名球员被控收受现金和性招待，换取在比
赛中放水。一支球队被联盟开除，另一支退出了联盟。
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.
一年后，丑闻再次爆发，这次受牵连的是中华职业棒球大联盟最受欢迎的球队之一“兄弟
象”的球员。
A year later scandal flared up again, implicating players from the Brother
Elephants, one of the league’s most popular teams.
观看球赛的人数直线下降。一些人把原因归咎于丑闻，但另一些人则把原因归咎于越来越
多的外籍球员。
Attendance plummeted. Some blamed the scandals, but others blamed the
increasing numbers of foreign players.
1998年，一位报纸专栏作家抱怨说，签了这么多的外国投手，以至于投手土墩简直就是一
个“租界”，这是对中国被欧洲列强压榨经历的苦涩隐喻。
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.
2009年台湾棒球处于最糟糕的境地时，政府和联盟管理层进行了干预，他们誓言整顿这项
运动，提高球员的工资水平，加强对赌球的监管。
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.
自那时起，职业棒球大联盟和四个球队达成了协议：Lamigo桃猿、统一7-ELEVEn狮（以这
里随处可见的便利店7-Eleven命名的球队)、中信兄弟（“兄弟象”因丑闻声名狼藉后改
用的名字），以及最新的“富邦悍将”球队。
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.
四支球队中，只有在过去四年中三次获得冠军的Lamigo桃猿有自己的专用主场，位于桃园
捷运车站附近。其他球队轮流使用不同城市的球场，虽然这些城市的球场与球队所在地有
关：富邦悍将用台北的球场，统一狮用台南的，中信兄弟用台中的。
Only the Monkeys, winners of the championship three of the last four years,
have a dedicated stadium, beside the high-speed train station in Taoyuan. The
others rotate home stadiums, though they are associated with their cities:
the Guardians in Taipei, the Uni-Lions in Tainan and the Brothers in Taichung.
有共识认为职业棒球大联盟正再度迎来辉煌。其中一个原因是迄今最大牌的外国球员：曼
尼·拉米瑞兹(Manny Ramirez)，此人在美国有过辉煌但起伏不定的职业生涯。
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.
2013年，拉米瑞兹曾两次因违反美国职业棒球大联盟的药物政策而被停赛，那之后他来到
了台湾。虽然只参加了49场比赛，但观看比赛的人数大增，此后一直保持稳定。
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.
（拉米瑞兹在台湾的现身也许是短暂的，但他在这里的时间，已经足以促使一位电视棒球
解说员喊出史上最令人难忘的全垒打欢呼。“球早已不见踪影，”解说员一字一顿地喊道
，“就像是变了心的女朋友，回不来了！”）
(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!”)
虽然可能没有日本的职业联盟那么有名，但中华职业棒球大联盟已经向其他国家的棒球大
联盟输出了十几名球员，并且在继续吸引外国的球员。
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.
“打客场最痛苦了，”Lamigo桃猿的美籍投球手麦可·尼克斯(Michael Nix)提到自己要
面对主场观众给打者助威的声音。“你要习惯它。”
“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.”
在球场里观看比赛，有时感觉像是比赛前的车尾派对一直延续到了观众席，然后变成了一
场有氧运动。每个观众好像都知道与参赛球队有关的各种加油口号，知道口号中混和的极
度亢奋的每个中文和英文词，而且知道配合加油口号的舞蹈动作。
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.
在棒球场里看球可以是一个如此令人晕眩的多语言经历，以至于德国乐队成吉思汗
(Dschinghis Khan)1979年演唱的一首俗气流行歌曲，可以被稍加修改成为全猿的加油歌
似乎也不太奇怪了。“Go, go, Lamigo ....”
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 ….”
陈女士不仅是全猿的忠诚球迷，还很喜欢看台上的气氛。她经常乘一个小时的火车从桃园
以南的苗栗来看比赛。最近的一个晚上，她是和男朋友一起来的。
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.
“他喜欢棒球，”她提高了声音说道，因为那一刻全猿正好把对悍将的领先扩大到了15比
2，球场的声音特别震耳欲聋。“但他不喜欢跳舞。”
“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.”
当被问及是什么原因吸引她来看比赛时，她用了一个两个字的中文词来回答，也许只有在
一个闷热夏夜的台湾棒球场里说出时，这个词才最为传神：
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:
“热闹。”
“Hot noisy.”
Steven Lee Myers是《纽约时报》驻京记者，欢迎在Twitter上关注他 @stevenleemyers
。livia Mitchell Ryan对本文有研究贡献。翻译Cindy Hao