[新聞] From Taiwan to the Bronx, One Pitch at a Time

[l23 (123)]

From Taiwan to the Bronx, One Pitch at a Time

By TYLER KEPNER
Published: August 13, 2006

He pitches with a sense of purpose and responsibility. For the Yankees’
 Chien-Ming Wang, celebrity and earning potential grow with every ground
ball. The better he pitches, the better he can take care of his family in
Taiwan.

他肩負著目標與責任投出每顆球，名聲與財富將隨著一次次的滾地球而益加成長。對王
建民來說，投得越好，他就能讓他在台灣的家人過更好的生活。

Wang, who is scheduled to start at Yankee Stadium today against the Los
Angeles Angels, has become more than the best ground-ball pitcher in the
American League. At 26, he is a national hero in his home country, where he
endorses computers and potato chips.

今天將在主場迎戰天使隊的小王，說他是美聯最好的滾地球投手還嫌謙虛了點。26歲的
他，在他的國家已經成為國民英雄，並為電腦和洋芋片代言。
                                        （這句氣勢整個弱掉...）

“When I used to go back to Taiwan, there weren’t that many events to go to,
” Wang said through a translator before a game in Chicago last week. “
Starting last year, there have been more events, and going out is not as
convenient.”

The kinds of events he attends are telling. “Going to orphanages,” Wang
said, “and events for premature babies.”

「以前回到台灣時，還沒那麼多活動要參加，」上週在芝加哥，小王透過翻譯告訴記者
「從去年開始，活動越來越多，出門也開始變得不方便。」

小王參加的活動也很感人：「到孤兒院去，或是為早產兒所辦的活動等等。」

Wang started playing baseball in fourth grade, as a pitcher, first baseman
and outfielder. He attended high school in Taipei, on the north side of the
island of Taiwan. His home, Tainan, is in the south. It was through baseball
that he learned an important part of his personal story.

小王在四年級開始打棒球，身兼投手、一壘手還兼守外野。在高中時他離開南部到北部
唸書，而棒球讓他發現一段關於自己身世的秘密。

“We were going out to a competition and needed our personal documents,”
 Wang said, explaining that meant the names, relationships and birthdates of
family members. “When I got my documents, I learned who my biological
parents were. My parents didn’t tell me.”

Wang found out then that his biological father was the man he knew as his
uncle, Ping-Yin Wang. Wang’s parents had no children of their own and
offered to raise him. They later had a daughter, Hsiu-Wen Wang, who is two
years younger.

「為了參加比賽，我們得交出戶籍謄本證明，當我拿到時，才知道原來自己的親生父母
不是現在的爸爸媽媽。他們之前並沒有告訴過我。」小王的親生父親其實是他的叔叔，
因為爸媽沒有子嗣，於是過繼了弟弟的小孩。後來小王有了個妹妹，小他兩歲。

It must have been a startling revelation, but Wang betrayed no emotion when
talking about it.

“I didn’t feel anything in particular,” he said. “I felt it was all
right, like I had two fathers.”

If anything, Wang said, he became even more serious about succeeding as a
pitcher.

“I felt I had to work even harder in order to help two sets of parents,” he
said, adding later, “Most of my money I send home to let my parents manage.
The rest I use for living expenses in America.”

那想必是段難熬的往事，但提起它時，小王並沒有流露太多情緒。

「那其實沒什麼特別的。我覺得還好，就像有兩個父親一樣。」

如果硬要說有什麼影響，那就是小王更認真地想成為一個好投手。「我覺得自己必須更
加努力，讓兩家人都過得好，」隨後他補上，「除了在美國所需的生活費以外，我的收
入大部分都交給爸媽了。」

Wang and his wife, Chia-Ling, live in the off-season with the parents who
raised him. He loves his mother’s cooking, he said, but the overriding
reason is cultural.

His parents, who manufactured metal products like spoons and lunch boxes,
have been retired for about 10 years. In Taiwan, Wang explained, it is
customary for sons to stay at home and take care of their parents. Long after
learning his personal background, Wang remains very close with the parents
who raised him.

“In Taiwan there’s a saying: ‘Raising a child is more important than
giving birth. Raising a child is greater,’ ” Wang said.

小王與太太嘉姈在球季結束後，會回到台灣跟父母同住，他喜歡媽媽的廚藝，但更重要
的原因其實是在文化上的意義。

他的父母從事五金類製造，已經退休了大約十年。小王對記者解釋說，在台灣，兒子多
半會繼承家業並扶養家中長輩，而到現在小王跟父母的感情依舊十分親近。

小王說：「台灣有句俗語：『養育之恩大過於生育之恩。』」（不太清楚正確原文）

No Taiwanese player had played in the major leagues until outfielder
Chin-Feng Chen joined the Dodgers in 2002, and Wang’s childhood idol was
Roger Clemens.

He attended a sports college, Taipei Ti Wu University, and was signed with
the Yankees for about $2 million in 2000, with a hard, straight fastball as
his primary weapon. Shoulder injuries sidelined him for all of 2001 and part
of 2003, but by 2004 he was a star for the Chinese Taipei Olympic team and,
by late August, the top starter for Class AAA Columbus.

第一個上MLB的台灣人是2002道奇隊的陳金鋒，小王小時候的偶像則是火箭人克萊門斯。

他大學讀的是台北體院，在2000年洋基隊以近兩百萬美金簽下他，主要是因為小王的速
球有很好的球質。然而肩傷讓他錯過了整個2001與2003年的一部份，在2004年時小王接
受中華隊徵召去打雅典奧運，到了八月下旬，他成為了AAA Columbus的明星投手。

The timing of his surge was significant. Had Wang blossomed in the spring of
2004, rather than the late summer, he might have attracted the attention of
the Arizona Diamondbacks, who aggressively scouted the Yankees’ farm system
before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline.

The Yankees wanted badly to trade for Randy Johnson and made all of their
prospects available to the Diamondbacks. Arizona assigned the scout Bryan
Lambe to evaluate several players, including Robinson Canó, Melky Cabrera
and Dioner Navarro.

They never mentioned Wang to Lambe, and the teams did not make a deal until
after the season. Wang was not in the trade.

小王崛起的時間點值得一提。如果2004年他是在春天發光而不是夏天尾巴的話，也許會
引起其他隊伍的注意。那時亞利桑納響尾蛇正忙於在洋基農場中尋找中意的交易對象，
因為洋基在極度想要得到Randy Johnson的情形下，開出了農作物任君挑選的條件。

響尾蛇隊找來球探Bryan Lambe，評估包括Robinson Cano、Melky Cabrera，以及
Dioner Navarro等幾位球員。

洋基沒有對球探Lambe提起過王建民。而兩隊季後完成的交易裡頭，小王也不在其中。

“I’d like to say I never saw him, but I did, maybe for a game or at least a
part of a game,” said Lambe, who now scouts for the Mets. “He pitched well,
but not like now. He didn’t have that velocity or that kind of sink. Natural
maturity took care of the velocity, but somebody fine-tuned him, because that
sinker is as good as anybody’s.

“He’s winning because of that hard sinker. You can hit it on the screws,
and if it’s sinking, you’ve hit a nice, hard ground ball. It takes a lot of
ground balls to win.”

現在是大都會球探的Lambe說：「我不想承認我見過小王，但其實我有（哽咽）。他投得
不差，但現在更好－不僅球速增加了，還有跳級的伸卡球。球速也許來自於天分，但他
接受的那些調整，讓他的伸卡球變得更強了。」

「伸卡是他的致勝武器，就算你抓對了點，一旦他的球往下沈，你得到的就是有力的，
啵棒的滾地球。他的勝利就是從那些滾地球而來。」

To throw the sinker, Wang holds the ball with his index and middle fingers
along the seams framing the ball’s sweet spot. There is a dark callus to the
right of the nail on his index finger, which he places just off the left
seam. When he releases the ball, Wang pushes off the seam with his index
finger, creating diving, downward movement toward the shins of a right-handed
hitter.

The pitch may end up out of the strike zone, but hitters find it hard to
resist before it shifts course.

要投出伸卡球，小王用食指與中指沿著球的縫線圈住球的甜蜜點，他的食指指頭右半邊
因為縫線的緣故，已經長出一塊硬繭。當他丟球時，他用食指按住縫線把球投出，製造
出的球路運行軌跡，會往右打者膝蓋以下下沈。

雖然球不一定進入到好球帶，但打者會很難抑止他們出棒的慾望。

“All you can do is hit the top of the ball,” said the Yankees’ Nick Green,
who faced Wang eight times when he played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. “
Every time it comes in, it looks like a strike. It’s easy to tell yourself
to lay off it from watching it on TV, but it’s hard to do.”

他的隊友Nick Green說：「你只會打到球的上緣，」尼克綠還在魔鬼魚隊時曾與小王交
手八次，「球進來時看起來都像好球，從電視上看來就是不要去打，就這麼簡單嘛。但
事實上根本很難辦到。」

............





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◆ From: 220.129.145.184
→ l23:原文出處： http://tinyurl.com/enr6t
推 a10141013:推
推 tlw0709:感謝翻譯推阿 小王加油!!
推 FlyingStone:要打中它簡直就像電視上那麼簡單(所以打的到打不好?)
→ tlw0709:因為那是保齡球 ﹨(╯▽╰)∕
推 sycc:推一個 辛苦啦XD
推 OLDdaughter:推阿  翻譯的好棒
推 lalawolala:推推 辛苦了
推 HIPOP4EVER:第三段，when I....一開始沒那麼多活動
推 l23:thx
推 SuWeiLin:推"農作物" XD
推 alonelv:辛苦了^^
推 jqh:推
推 ntouSoftWind:（哽咽）  XD
推 sylviehsiang:讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 slidshodness:讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 seanken:     讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 vnra:XDDDD   讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 mocblp:那句俚語"養的比較偉大"其實應該就是"生A放一邊 養A大過天"
→ mocblp:但是小王在訪談中只是用國語轉述而無用台語講出原文
推 tokugawa:    讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 yuanss:什麼…還有第二頁……
推 noonecan:後來響尾蛇拿洋基哪個農作物來換RJ阿
推 lovecmgirls:Javier Vazquez Brad Halsey Dioner Navarro+$9M
推 inkf:俗語 生A放幾邊 養A喀大天（請台語發音）
推 francviking:又是Taipei Ti Wu了  冏
推 PennyHughes:  讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 settier:      讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
推 asdfzx:推Lambe:但其實我有（哽咽）...   XD
推 yisian:      讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)
※ 編輯: l23             來自: 218.172.176.56       (08/13 15:09)
推 aaps:推
推 keepbusy:讓GREEN來陳述有多難打 實在是沒啥說服力(￣ー￣；)