طرفداران بیس بال در سراسر دنیا

Chapter 9

BASEBALL FANS AROUND THE WORLD

Baseball is a very popular sport in Asia, North America, South America, and even Europe. While the rules of baseball are similar from country to country, the behavior of baseball fans is very different. Here’s a look at some of the differences in fan behavior around the world.

In Japan

Baseball fans in Japan are loud—really loud. The sound of chants, cheering, drums, and trumpets continues nonstop throughout a baseball game in Japan. When a team goes to bat,1 their fans sing a different song for each batter at the plate. And even when their team is losing badly, Japanese fans continue to yell and scream. Foreign baseball players in Japan are often surprised that the fans never boo a player. According to the American pitcher Brian Warren, baseball is more fun in Japan. “When I used to play in Venezuela,” Warren said, “fans threw things at me when I didn’t pitch well.” This never happens in Japan.

When a Japanese player hits a home run, the fans give the biggest cheer of all—a banzai cheer. That’s when the fans yell with both of their arms above their heads.

In Taiwan

Baseball fans in Taiwan are just as loud as the fans in’Japan! In Taiwan, many fans use air horns to cheer their team on. These horns are so loud they can really hurt your ears. Taiwanese fans often yell “Charge!” to excite the baseball players. And when a player hits a home run, there is a special tradition. After the player runs around the bases, a young girl presents him with a stuffed animal that looks like his teams mascot.

In the United States

Asian visitors to the United States are often surprised and disappointed by how quiet American baseball fans are. “When I went to a baseball game in San Francisco, everybody was just sitting there watching the game. It was kind of boring,” says Barry Lin, a Taiwanese student at the University of California, Berkeley. “Baseball was invented in the United States,” Lin says, “but Americans don’t seem very excited about their game.”

Its true. Baseball fans in the United States are some of the quietest in the world. Its common to see baseball fans eating hot dogs and popcorn, and chatting with friends. “When I go to a baseball game,” says Ginger Hanson from San Francisco, “I want to have fun with friends and catch up on their lives. The real reason I go is for the social experience.”

In the Dominican Republic Like the fans in Japan and Taiwan, the fans in the Dominican Republic cheer loudly throughout the game. They also sing and dance! Since music and dancing are an important part of Dominican culture, you might even find a merengue band moving through the stands at a baseball game.

Despite the music and dancing, many Dominican fans are very serious about baseball. Carol Parmenter, an American living in the Dominican Republic, says, “At Dominican games, you see groups of men drinking small cups of sweet coffee, carefully analyzing every pitch, every hit, every play. American fans don’t usually follow the game that closely.”