At the recent World Baseball Classic, Taiwan’s Yu Chang (張育成) attracted global attention. Within one week, Chang’s enigmatic salute, electrifying performance, and endearing words catapulted him from disrepute as a draft-dodger to acclaim as “secretary of defense” (國防部長).
For Taiwanese fans, the nickname took on a different meaning. With his stellar performance, Chang was defending home turf. Although Taiwan didn’t make the quarterfinals in Tokyo, he won the award as the most valuable player of the pool after helping the national team score two victories, against Italy and the Netherlands.
