Our man in Taiwan
Posted by Carl on July 25, 2008
Thanks to FOTL, Hansioux for the frequent Gary Burnham updates. In case you’ve missed it, Hansioux recently added this comment:
… anyway, off topic but i am here to share Gary Burnham news as usual. Gary after the second stay in the Taiwan minors is doing great in the La New Bears lineup. He hit his 6th homerun, and had 5RBI in 2 games.
La New Bears actually got a new position player from the US, Brent Matheny, who is a single A player. I hope the managers come to their right minds and keep Gary.
Finally, Gary was at the Taiwan All Star game. He was there for the homerun derby, but he picked Mike Johnson to feed him the pitches, who happened to be the league’s leader in wins. So Gary didn’t make it to the final round.
Though here is a funny clip about Gary pre-All star game. He showed off his Mandarin skills. And he speaks it very well.
Hansioux, Gary Burnham news is never “off topic” around here. Roll tape.
(I should have a mandarin translation later tomorrow.)
July 31, 2008 at 5:30 pm
i’m back.
first, the youtube vid. It’s a behind the scenes special to the Homerun Derby of the Taiwan Allstar game.
Gary and Mike Johnson were busy collecting autographs.
First to sign their autograph is Chen Zhi-Yuan, a solid hitter of Brothers Elephants. After he signed for Mike, Chen said “Thank you” and then added “thank you for striking me out all the time.”
Gary’s first line was “qian ming” which is mandarin to ask for a signiture.
Gary’s second line is “ta hao kan”, jokingly complimenting another player’s good looks. And then said “er xin, er xin” which is yuck, gross.
Coming to the 3rd autograph, Gary said “Ni Da Ji Hen Hao” which is you are a great hitter.
The last guy is Gary’s teammate EZ Huang, and he asked Gary “Do you have confidence on hit home runs today?”
Gary replied “I’ll hit home run, maybe”
EZ asked “How many?”
Gary replied “The feeder is Mike Johnson, I’ll hit 5 home runs”.
I find that Gary understanding the “confidence” question without any need for a translating AMAZING.
He has only been in Taiwan for 5 months. To pick up the language that fast is incredible. Gary is crazy smart.
He is also doing sensational in the games. Since his second return in July, he is hitting 0.531!!! 2 hommers, and OBP 0.559 SLG 0.844 in 8 games.
I’m hoping that the reporters will be smart enough to vote for Gary to be the July MVP.
Olympics is almost upon us. Olympic baseball is a big deal in Taiwan. So big that the league will pause for 2 weeks in order for top players to play for the national team. From what I know, Gary is planning to do some traveling on the island.
Since Canada national baseball team is also in the Olympics this year, I wonder if you guys in Canada will be following the games. I imagine some of the great Canadian players are going to be on the team, including La new Bears’ ace Mike Johnson.
Before I go, I’ll leave you with two clips.
Gary’s 7th home run
During the clip, graphic shows Gary’s 15 games hitting streak.
Below is a interview by Gary on July 22nd, where he went 3 for 4, hommered and 4 RBI.
Gary’s second Game MVP interview
(no translation needed since Gary will be speaking Enlgish)
I am a bit upset that at the end the interviewer just wanted Gary to show case more of his Chinese abilitiy. But Gary said some very very thoughtful stuff through out the interview. Totally worth watching.