台灣之光王建民登上紐時

Yankees' Wang Finds His Place on the Mound and in the World

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Chien-Ming Wang has become a hero in Taiwan and a stalwart in the Yankees’rotation.

進入The New York Times的網站，在最左邊的選單中挑選Sports這個項目，映入眼簾的，是這則新聞！台灣之光王建民確實在洋基隊、投手丘和世界舞台上都找到了自己的位置！



在這則報導中，非常詳實地介紹王建民，網站上還有一段很精采的專訪影片，實在值得一看！以下就是這則報導和翻譯。

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.



他投球時，讓人感覺很有目標、背負著責任。對洋基隊的王建民而言，每一顆滾地球都為他帶來名氣和潛在的財富增加。他投的越好，相對地，他能帶給台灣的家人更好的生活。



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.



王建民，今天表定要在洋基主場對上洛杉磯天使隊。他已經變成美國聯盟的最佳滾地球投手。二十六歲的他，是祖國的全民英雄，在那裡，他甚至為代言電腦和洋竽片代言。

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



「就之前回台灣的時候，就是沒有那麼多……像要做什麼活動之類的。王建民上星期在芝加哥的一場球賽前透過一個翻譯表示：「就從去年開始，就蠻多一些活動的。出門也不太方便。」

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



他參加一些類似孤兒院或是王建民說：「還有為早產兒舉辦的活動之類的。」

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.



王建民從小學四年級開始玩棒球，他當過投手、一壘手和外野手。雖然他的家鄉在台南（位居台灣的南部），但是他高中到台北（位於台灣的北部）求學。透過了棒球，他學到人生中最重要的一部分！

“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.”



「那一天好像是、好像要出去比賽，需要那戶籍謄本、戶口名簿那種……」王建民說，戶口名簿是記載著他們一家的名字、關係和出生年月日。「那時候拿到的時候才看到，因為他們沒有跟我講。」

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.



王建民發現，他的生父竟是他平時熟知的三叔，王炳穎。當時，因為王建民的父母並沒有小孩，所以將王建民過繼給哥哥。然而，之後，他們有了一個女兒，比王建民小兩歲。

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



這必定是一個令人震驚的真相，但是王建民講到這個時，並沒有顯示任何的情緒。

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



「那時候就想說也不錯。」他說：「有兩個爸爸。對啊，也不會感覺到什麼。」



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



如果要說有什麼的話，那就是讓王建民更認真地想成為一位成功的投手



“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.” 



「就想要以後更努力啊，就要幫助兩個爸爸媽媽。」稍後，他補充道：「除了在美國的生活費之外，其他的錢都寄回家交給爸媽處理。」

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



在球季以外的時間，王建民和他的妻子吳嘉姈會回到台灣和父母住在一起。他說他喜歡媽媽的廚藝，不過真正的原因其實是在於文化上面。

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.



他的雙親已經退休達十年之久，之前是從事金屬產品的製造。王建民解釋道，在台灣小孩和父母同住並且照顧雙親是很平常的事。即使得知他自己的背景，王建民仍然和養父母非常的親近。

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



「台灣人講：就養你的就比較偉大啊，對啊。」王建民表示。

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



到外野手陳金峰在2002年加盟洛杉磯道奇隊以前，從來沒有台灣人站上大聯盟的舞台。(王建民童年時期的偶像是火箭人Roger Clemens)



He attended a sports college, Taipei Ti Wu University, and was signed by 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.



他在2000年的時候，正就讀台北體院，就被洋基隊以一紙大約兩百萬的合約簽下。當時，他的主要武器是球質硬的快速直球。然而因為肩部的受傷，使得他在2001年以及2003部分時候無法上場。但是就在2004年奧運，小王成為台灣隊中的一顆閃耀的球星。到了八月，他成了3A球隊的王牌先發。



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.



王建民的崛起時間點極具意義。如果他開花結果的時間不是在2004年夏末，而提前於早春「綻放」，那麼當時他很有可能會引起亞利桑那響尾蛇隊的注意。它們在731大限到來之前，正虎視眈眈地盯著洋基農場。

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.



洋基隊當時即想得到藍迪˙強森(Randy Johnson )的加盟，所以對於響尾蛇隊的所有指望通接受。響尾蛇隊派出球探Bryan Lambe評估了幾名選手，包括了Robinson Canó, Melky Cabrera 和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.



洋基並沒有對Lambe提到王建民，而直到球季結束才完成交易，王建民沒有列入交易名單之內。

“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.



「我很想說我從未見過小王，但是，事實上我有。或許是在一場或至少幾局的球賽裡。」現在是大都會隊球探的 Bryan Lambe 說道：「他投得很好，但不像現在這麼好。當時他沒有這種球速和下沉尾勁。球速也許來自天賦，但是某人對他的改造，使得他的伸卡球不輸給任何人。」



“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.”



「他的勝利和他的硬質伸卡球有很大的關係。你可以在它在作螺旋轉動時打到它，但是只要他的球開始往下沉，就會造成一記強勁的滾地球。滾地球的大量製造為他帶來勝利。」

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.

“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.”

Wang, who has not lost since July 3, has produced 3.36 ground outs for every fly out this season, the best ratio in the league. Because he induces contact so regularly, he has only 49 strikeouts, tied for the fewest in the majors among pitchers who qualify for the earned-run-average title.

Wang credits his sinker to Neil Allen, his pitching coach at Columbus in 2004, and Sal Fasano, who caught him then.

“He’s got that unique ability that whatever you teach him, he can throw with almost immediate success,” said Fasano, now the Yankees’ backup catcher. “But that’s why you have to be careful.”

In Columbus, Wang threw six pitches, which Fasano said he considered too many. Wang took to the sinker so quickly, Fasano said, that it made sense to master that pitch and throw it roughly 90 percent of the time.

The trick was not to throw it too hard. Wang can throw a four-seam fastball around 96 miles an hour. The sinker — or two-seamer — comes in two or three miles an hour slower, but has more movement.

When Wang threw 103 pitches in beating the Devil Rays on July 8, catcher Jorge Posada said he called only sinkers. But Ron Guidry, the pitching coach, said Wang also throws a changeup, slider and four-seam fastball.

When right-handers protect against the sinker, Guidry said, Wang can throw a slider or four-seamer to the outside corner, where they cannot reach. But mostly, Guidry conceded, Wang gets outs with the sinker.

“It’s like hitting a shot put,” Guidry said. “It’s harder than most sinkers, and it’s got late movement.”

Wang leads the team with 161 innings pitched, and he is 13-4 with a 3.69 earned run average. Beyond his ability, Wang’s personality has endeared him to teammates.

Reliever Mike Myers, who sometimes runs with Wang before batting practice around the concourse level of road ballparks, said Wang’s smile drew people in, and the language barrier fell later.

“Once you get him to open up, he’s fine,” Myers said. “But you’ve got to get him to open up.”

The Yankees provided Wang with a personal interpreter when he first came to the United States in 2000, but the interpreter was soon fired. Wang said he would rather not worry about the possibility of losing another interpreter, so he has not asked for one since.

“This year is better than last year,” Wang said. “Last year the other players didn’t talk to me very much. They figured I couldn’t speak English. In my second year, more people are talking to me, chatting with me.”

Wang’s English is improving, and he speaks well enough to convey basic points to the news media after games. Rick Cerrone, the Yankees’ media relations director, has suggested that Wang group three distinct ideas in each answer, and Wang has been quoted more often lately.

Predictably, teammates ply Wang with amusing phrases. On a recent flight, he greeted Larry Bowa, the boisterous third-base coach, by saying, “What’s up, Meat?”

“They’re teaching him new stuff, and he’s testing it on me,” Bowa said. “He does have a good sense of humor.”

That was the first thing Andy Phillips mentioned when asked to explain Wang’s personality. Wang parrots phrases, for sure, but he usually knows when he is being set up, and he has keen comic timing.

“He’s very, very funny,” Phillips said. “He’s pretty quiet, and then all of a sudden he’ll say something or ask a question at a random time, and it’s just hilarious.”

Phillips and Wang were teammates in the minors, and they eat together on the road sometimes. On one of their first trips in the majors, they had rooms on the same floor. When they got there, Wang sheepishly asked Phillips, “Where’s my luggage?”

Phillips explained that a bellman would bring the bags. Any rookie could have asked the same question, but it reminded Phillips of the adjustments Wang still has to make.

“When you think about all the little things we do every day just to be able to get to the field and do our work, that can be quite a challenge,” Phillips said. “But his personality is so laid back that he doesn’t let those challenges affect him.”

From absorbing the true story of his own beginning to mastering opposing lineups, Wang has handled it all.

王建民接受紐約時報精采的專訪(video)



紐時原始報導