One blind TKU student, Chiu Wen-shen acquired the honor as the MVP hitter. Taiwan Homerun Blind Baseball Team had great games with 3 wins in USA 2006 World Blind Baseball Game on August 7th when people all paid attention on our “baseball prince” in Major League Baseball – Won Chien-Ming. Won Chao-se, an alumnus of TKU, Chiu Wen-shen and Chen Chun-Min, senior students in History Department, are major players. Besides, Chiu Wen-shen gained the honor as the MVP hitter.

The 2006 World Blind Baseball Game took place in Cleveland, Ohio; this is the 10th times that Taiwanese blind people joined the game. With Chen Chi-tan, Lao Wei-ho, Cheung Rong-en, Lin Chan-yo, and Chen Chi-tan, 5 coaches leading this year, 9 players went to the game in U.S. on July 28th. Competing with other 16 beat teams of the States, our team overcame obstacles and kept winning the champion for 7 games. Beating up West Coast Dawgs, we won the champion with outstanding scores 31 to 23. The team leader Chiu Wen-shen happily said, “We supposed to have 42 games to fight, but we had got 131 great points at the 18th game, including 6 early-finished games.”

The reason why Taiwan Home Run Blind Baseball has this name “Home Run” is that many major players including Chang Kin-shen and Chang Kuo-ruei are from “TKU Home Run”, Chiu Wen-shen proudly said, “TKU Home Run” blind baseball team is the most outstanding team in Taiwan.”

When Chiu Wen-shen won the honor as the MVP player, his player number 55 also got the reputation in U.S. He said, “we had great teamwork and had done the most tough training and practice to tackle the competition.” The rule of blind baseball is that pitcher, hitter and catcher are in the same team. The partnership and teamwork are very important because all players’ eyes are covered with black cloth.

The all blind players need to be sensitive on “touching” to make each movement. The coach shows the posture of running, attacking at first, and then team members learn the posture through touching physically from top to bottom. The coach Chen Chi-tan also practices with his eyes covered.

Another team member Chen Chun-min speaks frankly, “the only effective way to lead to victory is to practice hard. And we concentrated on training from March to July, and had done many practices at Riverside Park on every Saturday and Sunday, also did weight training independently after going home. Players from all parts of Taiwan also attended the competition, including Wong Chen-guang, Lai Zhi-jie, Chang Zen-ron, Shu Ching-min, Hu Wen-chiu and Chen Jye-min. (~ Johnny Chu )