I was at home on Saturday, minding my own business, when a box was delivered to our front door. I didn’t open it at first. I was watching the Ohio State-Indiana game, and we get a lot of boxes these days — maybe you do too — and the beat-up nature of the box didn’t look all that promising.
And then I did open it.
Inside were two copies of WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL in Chinese, using traditional Chinese characters (which are used in Taiwan).
It might just be the greatest box I’ve ever opened.
Yes, my book is being published in Taiwan! I was vaguely aware of this — there have been some emails about it — but I wasn’t AWARE of just how cool it is to have a book translated into traditional Chinese characters.
I mean, LOOK AT THAT BOOK! It’s a work of art.
By the way, here’s how it translates:
當代最偉大的棒球說書人波斯南斯基，獻給球迷的一紙情書
“The greatest baseball storyteller of our time, Posnanski: A love letter to fans.”*
*說書人 means “storyteller” — and I’m told this has special meaning in Chinese, as it ties closely to the great tradition of oral storytelling in the East.
棒球史上令人動容的50個瞬間
“50 Moving Moments in Baseball History.”
波斯南斯基 著
“Posnanski.” I guess this is a sound-for-sound transliteration of my name!
陳榮彬 譯
“Translated by Chen Rong-bin” (I have to meet this person!)
你怎能不愛棒球
“How could you not love baseball?”
貝比魯斯、威利梅斯、柯克吉布森、漢克阿倫、王貞治、鈴木一朗、大谷翔平…… 譜出棒球史上50個經典「名場面」。
“Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Kirk Gibson, Hank Aaron, Sadaharu Oh, Ichiro Suzuki, Shohei Ohtani … composing 50 iconic, classic scenes in baseball history.”
And my favorite part — the part on the right side:
當代最偉大的棒球說書人——波斯南斯基
獻給所有「喜愛棒球，熱愛棒球，
沒有棒球就吃不下飯，睡不著覺的
棒球痴、棒球狂」的一紙情書
“The greatest baseball storyteller of our time — Posnanski
dedicates to all those who like baseball, passionately love baseball,
without baseball can’t get their food down, can’t fall asleep,
the baseball-obsessed, the baseball-crazy, a love letter.”
Without baseball, can’t get their food down, can’t fall asleep — yep, I think that more or less covers it for a lot of us, right? There are so many times in my life when I honestly cannot believe how lucky I am.
The Rays beat the Guardians on Saturday and Sunday and are now one game away from taking the American League Championship Series. There’s no point in predicting things now. The Rays seem to be in the driver’s seat. But the playoffs have been so low-scoring that one clutch hit, one misplay, one lucky bounce can decide any game. All there really is to do is watch.
I want to talk for a minute about baseball stars.