Chang Tai-Shan

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Chang Tai-Shan ( 張泰山 ) is an infielder for Sinon Bulls, one of the professional teams in Taiwan. He is one of a Taiwanese aborigines (Ami). He was born on October 31, 1976 in Taitung,and began to play baseball when he was in elementary school and he continued practicing. He was famous for hitting home runs. His name Tai-Shan is also the translated name of Tarzan, and because of this he was nicknamed " Prince of the Forest " by his fans. This name came from his Chinese first name, and it meaned that he was powerful.

When he was nineteen years old, he joined Wei Chuan Dragons (味全龍) It was the seventh year of professional baseball in that time. As the youngest baseball player in the team, he performed well and continued to progress. He represented Taiwan on international contests such as Olympic Baseball game in 2004 and World Baseball Classic in 2006.

[edit] Life

He fell in love at first sight with 吳靜宜, who is three years older than him. At that time, she was a student, Chang Tai-shan sent her to her home after she finished the class . In this way he earned her trust and won her heart. After dating her for about three years, Chang Tai-Shan proposed marriage to her and they got married on November 20th 1999. One thing very special is that they held their wedding ceremony on a baseball field. He was the first baseball player who got married in baseball field; his life is all connected to baseball.

Chang Tai-Shan's wife is always very supportive, she gives good advices when he meets difficulties. He is not only a good baseball player but also a good husband. Because of this image, he and his wife are asked to show together in a TV commercial to promote pesticide. In the TV commercial, we can see Chang Tai-Shan's wife screams when she sees a cockroach on the floor, and then Tai-Shan appears and kills it with pesticide. Then he hug his wife to comfort her. We can see the sweet interaction between them, the plot is much the same as their daily life, they always help each other whenever and whatever things happen.

In 2006, Chang Tai-Shan started an activity to help mentally retarded children. Every time Tai-Shan hits a home run, he and his Sinon Bulls will donate NT$3000 to Children Are Us Foundation. He has been inspired for this project by his nephew, who is one of these children. "It very hard for parents to raise children with intelligence disability",Tai-Shan says. So he hopes by doing this he can help more children like his nephew. Tai-Shan hopes that he can collect NT$1000000 this year(2006). There are also plans to hold, such as some charity bazaars to raise more money to achieve the goal. " I am not going to do this for only one year, I will continue to do this for those children. I hope my fans could support me because the strength of only one person is not enough," Tai-Shan says.

[edit] Statistic

According to the statistic recorded by Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), he hit his one hundredth home run in 2003 and he has collected his one thousandth hit in March 2006. This make him become the youngest baseball player who collects one thousand hits in Taiwan. Now, he has collected fourteen home runs since the start of the 17th year of CPBL. By now, he has hit 168th home runs in his life.

[edit] Trivia

• In October, 2004, Chang Tai-Shan opened his first restaurant in Taipei. It is an aboriginal restaurant decorated according to the aboriginal culture and the dishes are of genuine aboriginal taste. He is very happy to have this restaurant, because he is a Taiwanese aborigine and he likes aboriginal food very much. By opening the restaurant, he can share the delicious food from his hometown with everyone in Taiwan. When he was intervied by journalists, he says that if it is possible, he will open another restaurant in Taichung.
• Every time Chang Tai-Shan hits a home run, he always points his index finger at the sky when he runs to the home base. Many people think that this gesture is too provocative, but he says that it's an unconscious gestiure. He doesn't mean to infuriate the fans of the opposite team, he just wants to encourage himself and make fans who support him happy. (The source is from the newspaper.)