HAKANIN.Sports

Paul’s Note: The following article was posted on 8/9. For the original article in Traditional Chinese, click HERE.

This is something I wrote last week, I was talking to Chien-Ming Wang, and Hispanic announcer Francisco Rivera of YES Network joined the conversation. He shared his baseball knowledge and even taught us a couple Spanish phrases. He also shared with us his opinion on Wang.

I thought it was really interesting because we don’t often notice what fans from Latin America think about Wang. I wrote the following for UDN (a Chinese news website), but they removed it, so I decided to post it here as well.

• For YES Network’s Hispanic announcer Francisco Rivera, when he thinks about Chien-Ming Wang, he often relates him to the word “calladito,” which means “quiet” in Spanish.Ever since Wang joined the Show, his outstanding performance earned him several nicknames from Taiwanese and American media: “Light of Taiwan,” “Prince of Groundball,” “Taiwanese Lightning,” and more; there is a high percentage of players in the Major League that are from Latin America, so what do they think of Wang?For Taiwanese fans who watch YES in the US or online, they usually won’t watch it to Spanish, therefore not likely to know what Hispanic fans say about Wang. Rivera smiled and said: “During the games, we usually use the word ‘calladito’ to describe Wang. We all call him ‘the quiet guy from Taiwan.’”Similar to Wang, Rivera joined YES in 2005 and has been with the Yankees for about 3 years. However, he had plenty broadcasting experience before that as the Spanish announcer for the Phillies from 1995 to 98.”I live in New Jersey, and I met Wang back in Trenton (Yankees’ 2A affiliated team at the time). Not to tute my own horn, but I knew he had the potential to be a successful big league pitcher then!”Rivera further explained: “In Spanish, ‘calladito’ meant quiet in a good way, not the type that does not talk and ignores others. There are many Major Leaguers that don’t like to deal with media, refusing to talk in front of mics; I know Wang is a good guy — he doesn’t say much, but that doesn’t mean he is arrogant. I know he has great passion for what he does.”When talking about Wang’s development in the past years, Rivera said “he used to be just sinkers, but now he added sliders, and that will only make him better; Wang is very fortunate to have Ron Guidry as a teacher. You young guys have not witnessed Guidry pitching, have you? Oh my God! His sliders were incredible! When he won the Cy Young Award at 1978, oh my goodness…” He went on and on, nothing can hide his passion for the sport.Every time Wang pitches, you can see many Taiwanese fans at Yankee Stadium, and Rivera has great understanding of what it means for Wang to be a “National Hero.” He said “I’m Puerto Rican, and when I was little, Roberto Clemente was our hero. His importance for Puerto Ricans will never be replaced; I strongly believe that Wang means the same for Taiwan.”

J-Train writes for the Word Journal, one of the bigger Mandarin news paper in North America, in NYC. He spends most of his time covering Asian athletes, with focus on Chien-Ming Wang and the New York Yankees. He recently became the first Taiwanese baseball writer to join the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). For more of his articles, you may go to The J-Train Blog (it’s in Traditional Chinese), or click HERE for my translated ones. For those English speaking fans, HAKANIN.com will continue to provide the translated version of his articles, so stay tuned!

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Filed under: Chien-Ming Wang, Joseph Liao, MLB, New York Yankees, Sports, Taiwan, The J-Train Blog