Special thanks to Mr.Eric Marinbach for sharing photos and thoughts



Wang and I met in 2000 as a member of the Staten Island Yankees. Having never seen too many Asian players before, combined with the fact that at that level players are very nice and interact with the fans, Wang spoke with a lot of his fans there through his interpreters. The best part of being a minor leaguer is that some fans will follow your career as you advance through the system and acknowledge you and in turn the player will do the same with their fans. That is how Wang recognized me throughout his minor league career and it carried over into his MLB career with the Yankees. I also went to his jersey retirement ceremony in Staten Island where they gave out a very unique bobblehead of him, with actual hair on it. It has taken a long time, but he finally signed it for me at that Scranton game.

While Wang has been recovering from a 2 year injury plagued hiatus, hundreds of Taiwanese fans along with myself as his #1 American fan, flock to see him pitch and after his games wait to meet and great our hero. Following each stop on his rehabilitation tour, he will pitch his games, stay til after the games to do his press conferences for the Taiwanese media, then come out to great his fans and myself who wait patiently after the games. In each stadium, security has been more than gracious to accommodate us by setting up barricades in order to keep the crowd orderly and Wang has always been nice enough to sign and talk to us, no matter how long it takes, basically because he realizes what an honor for the Taiwanese and me to meet and greet their hero and he appreciates it very much. On July 24th however, Scranton security took it upon themselves to have Wang sneak out the other way and we couldn’t have Wang to greet us similar to his other games after about 45 minutes of waiting.

Scranton security told Wang's fans and myself was that he will definitely be signing the following day. As it turns out, a total of 10 fans including myself showed up to see Wang, a far cry from the 400+ that were there the previous day, a delight to stadium staff. Wang not only took the time to talk to each and every one of us (see the photos below), but he signed multiple items for everyone. I am proud to say that I did attend his 2011 Nationals debut. In my eyes along with many Taiwanese fans eyes, Wang will always be an idol and a hero.