Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Chen music at Cashman Field

Before games when he was at class-A San Bernardino, Las Vegas 51s first baseman Chin-Feng Chen would sit in silence in front of his locker, with his bat between his legs and his forehead touching the knob.

Intensely private, Chen still in some ways resembles the character of Pedro Cerrano, the eccentric outfielder who stroked his bat in the baseball cult classic movie "Major League" -- minus the mysterious voodoo and oddball ramblings.

Back then, Chen kept to himself -- not only because he didn't speak English, but because he preferred the solitude.

Now, he puts up an invisible glass wall, it seems, to shield himself from the pressures and expectations that go along with being one of the Los Angeles Dodgers' top prospects.

Only his teammates and coaches are allowed inside while everyone else is kept at arm's length.

'That's just the way he is," 51s second baseman Joe Thurston said. "If he doesn't know you, he won't talk to you.

"He's pretty loud, believe it or not. I have to tell him to be quiet a lot. He is a very, very good guy on and off the field. He jokes around more often than not. If you watch real closely, you'll see that we're laughing a lot."

If Chen, a native of Tainan County in the Southern part of Taiwan, makes it to the big leagues, he will be the first Taiwanese player to do so.

Speaking through translator Vincent Liao, the Dodgers' manager of Chinese and Taiwanese affairs, and with help from roommate Bubba Crosby, Chen was endearing, polite, funny at times and somewhat aloof during his first lengthy media interview in Las Vegas.

"It's OK," he said of the attention he gets in Taiwan. "Sometimes somebody will ask me for my autograph, but I'm not as big as Michael Jordan.

"Of course it feels good that somebody cares about you. Still, a lot of people have big expectations for me and I don't really know how to handle it. I really think it's better for me not to think about getting to the major leagues. "

For Chen, 24, playing the sport he learned at 11 after watching older brother Lien-Hong Chen excel under an international spotlight is easy compared to dealing with the attention regarding his ability.

It's also easier compared to shouldering the hopes of the Taiwanese people.

Thurston has led a platoon of players who have helped Chen make the transition from outfield to first base, and he continues to help him make the adjustment to life in the United States.

When Chen was signed by the Dodgers in 1999, he didn't speak any English.

He was enrolled in a brief introductory English language course before playing his first year at class-A San Bernardino.

There, he made friends with Taiwanese pitcher Hong-Chi Kuo, who joined the team after the season started, and had the help of Liao. But not being able to understand what was being said by the other players was extremely frustrating.

"Right now, I like it (living in America)," Chen said in English. "Before, it was hard. Now it's OK.

"English is hard. Here, I have to speak English. There, I get to speak Chinese. That's easy. So that's the difference."

These days, Chen continues to learn English by listening to his teammates, watching DVD movies with Thurston and TV with Crosby. Nevertheless, his understanding of the language remains more advanced than his ability to speak it.

He considers sushi and "anything beef" from rare Kobe steak to McDonald's and Burger King hamburgers among his favorite things to eat.

Thurston has introduced Chen to rap music. Crosby said Chen enjoys listening to new age artist Enya before sleeping and likes to watch cartoons such as "Tom and Jerry."

As Crosby watched Chen eating the post-game spread with his chair turned toward the rest of the clubhouse, head craned to watch TV, he recounted the change in Chen's demeanor from when they played together at San Bernardino.

"That's a huge difference from when he would keep to himself," Crosby said. "As he feels more comfortable with the guys, he has opened up more.

"Just because we're roommates, I've gotten to know him a lot better and he talks a whole lot. There are still some guys on the team that look puzzled when I say Chen talks a lot because if he doesn't know them, he keeps to himself. He's just shy."

So has Chen taught interested teammates any phrases in the Chinese Mandarin dialect?

"They ask me to teach them Chinese," Chen paused and smiled slyly before adding, "But I don't tell them.

"Sometimes they'll ask me to say something, then I'll try to teach them and then they forget it."

In the middle of spring training, the Dodgers moved him from his natural position in the outfield to first base, hoping he will one day be a suitable replacement for Eric Karros.

Entering tonight's game, Chen is hitting .303 with six home runs. He is ranked third on the team in hits (32) and runs (19) and second in RBIs (20).

But it's defense that has him most concerned.

"It's so different," he said of playing in the infield. "The balls are coming really fast at you. It's very intense and your reaction time is so much shorter."

51s manager Brad Mills, long impressed with Chen's ability to make adjustments at the plate and what he calls "electricity in his bat," has been very satisfied with his learning curve.

"It's not an easy adjustment," Mills said. "But he is constantly working and improving on things.

"He sees things that he thinks he has to work on and so we'll talk about it and he'll go out and work on them the next day. That's why he's going to continue to get better.

"What's going to help him more than anything else is his discipline. He's got a little pride, too. And so he wants to do well."

To prevent Chen from trying too hard and dwelling on his mistakes, Thurston keeps Chen loose with positive encouragement and jokes.

"He wants to do so well out there that if he misses a ball, he puts so much pressure on himself," Thurston said. "I tell him that it's OK, he can get the next one.

"He needs fundamental work because he's never played infield before. He also needs the support from his teammates, not just the coaches."

Already, Chen has a ton of support from fans in Las Vegas and abroad.

Almost each time he steps to the plate, a group of fans chant, "MVP! MVP!"

Since his arrival, visits to the Las Vegas 51s website have never been higher.

Approximately 45,000 votes were recorded in the first fan poll that ran on the website for six days asking: "Who has been the 51s MVP thus far?" Chen received 97 percent of the votes.

The second poll that ran for four days asked, "Who's your favorite 51s player?" This time, Chen received 95 percent of 41,778 votes crushing Thurston, left fielder Mike Kinkade and catcher Todd Greene.

Chen's increasing popularity prompted Aaron Artman, the 51s director of marketing and communications, to offer a replica of Chen's Sunday jersey through Internet sales.

Although Artman didn't know the exact number of jerseys sold at $24.95 each, he said the 51s sold out of the first order and that 95 percent of the orders came from Taiwan and China.

"The shirt has been available for two weeks and it's selling extremely well," Artman said. "There are a couple people in Taiwan who have ordered 20-25 shirts for resale."

Artman has received so much correspondence about Chen that he is considering putting video of Chen's at-bats online.

All of the hype hasn't inflated Chen's ego.

Chen, the son of a housewife and retired farmer and factory worker, doesn't use a computer or check his e-mail.

A few years ago, he read a Chinese sports psychology book which taught him to control his emotions. That is why Chen has the exact same expression after he hits a homer or strikes out.

Chen continues to read Chinese books and writes down his thoughts in a binder.

"It's simple living here," he said. "If you want it to be simple, it will be simple.

"But you can also make it hard for yourself and on yourself. If you choose to keep calm, then things will be that way.""

archive