TAIPEI, Taiwan -- “Let us welcome baseball fans from all different parts of the world by saying 'Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening!'”
For baseball fans around the world who have followed the broadcasts of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in English, the opening message of each and every telecast has become the daily salute to baseball fans worldwide from the only active professional baseball league in the world amid the lockdown caused by COVID-19.
CPBL staging games amid the coronavirus pandemic has caught the attention of major media outlets worldwide.
“The reason we are able to proceed with the CPBL 2020 season is due to the solid achievement that our government has led us to accomplish in fighting against coronavirus,“ said Richard "Boston" Wang, Asia Correspondent of WBSC. He has been called The Voice of Baseball, since he and his broadcast partner Wayne McNeil started to broadcast CPBL games in English on Eleven Sports Network Taiwan.
It marks only the second time in CPBL’s 31-year history in which the regular-season games are being broadcasted internationally, and it is the first time in its history that entire games are broadcasted in English.
“As soon as we knew that CPBL would be the first in the world to start the season amid the COVID-19 lockdown, we also knew it would be something interesting to show CPBL games to the world,” said McNeil, who has been a Taiwan resident for more than 17 years and served as baseball commentator for the WBSC Premier12 2015.
“Simone Kang, the managing director of Eleven Sports Network (ESN) Taiwan, is the driving force for delivering CPBL games to a worldwide audience," Wang said.
Wang is a Major League Baseball broadcaster/commentator with FOX Sports Taiwan in Mandarin. He was asked to join the broadcasting team using English as his second language.
“I never dreamed of being a baseball game broadcaster using a second language," said Wang. "I speak conversational English fluently, and I am able to deliver a speech, but I never prepared myself to call the games in English."
Wang said “nervous" is not the word he would use to describe his anxiety and fear of presenting before a live worldwide audience.
"All I can do is keep practising over and over, on my motorbike, in the shower, while doing the dishes...practically at any moment when I'm awake,” Wang said.
The preparation work apparently is paying off. The first broadcast generated more than 650,000 views worldwide and more baseball fans tuned to ESN’s Twitter account to find the sports they have been craving. Just five games into the season with the added English broadcast, five million views were recorded to make CPBL games the most popular program in the world of sports.
The success of the English broadcasts of Rakuten Monkeys games by Wang and McNeil quickly triggered the reaction from other CPBL clubs. The Fubon Guardians moved swiftly to acquire the services of Wang and McNeil as they set up their own Fubon Guardians TV associated with their Twitter account.
“I am overwhelmed by the response from our international viewers," said Wang. “Judging by the feedback from our international fans, I guess we are doing something right by providing our baseball games to the world as a way of entertainment, a form of comforting, a sense of normalcy, as we are going through this difficult period of time.
"I am truly honoured to be part of the project to bring baseball to the world, and I am equally proud of being able to present the solid achievement in pandemic prevention of my country through the platform of baseball broadcasting.”
There is yet no clear signs of relief for countries severely affected by COVID-19. Both Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) seasons are currently on hold. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) plans to follow CPBL’s lead and open its season on 5 May, behind closed doors.
Wang and McNeil will continue to feed Breakfast Baseball to fans who have been following and enjoying CPBL games until the end of the 2020 season.
“Grab your morning coffee, or lunch box or even dinner plate, stay tuned with us and we will bring baseball to you no matter where you are,” Wang, the international voice of baseball, said.
