假球醜聞之後 臺灣明星棒球手的自我救贖

The former first baseman for the Brother Elephants, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Yankees, now spends most of his days and nights deep in a local stadium, in a spartan room with all the charm of an old warship.

臺灣的兄弟象棒球隊相當於紐約的洋基隊(Yankees)，它的前任一壘手現在不分晝夜，絕大部分時間都是在當地一個球場內一間充滿老軍艦魅力的簡樸房間裏度過。

He sleeps on a thin bed. Sports gear towers above him on metal cabinets. A coffee table overflows with snacks, ashtrays and teacups.

他睡在一張鋪着薄墊的牀上。頭頂的金屬櫃子上，各種體育用品堆積如山。咖啡桌上快餐、菸灰缸和茶杯快堆不下了。

It is the coach’s quarters, where the former player, Tsai Feng-an, directs a high school baseball program, a shoestring operation that demands long hours and pays him a fraction of his old big-league salary. It is also where Tsai, whose name was once as famous as Don Mattingly's, would rather not be.

這裏是教練區，前棒球選手蔡豐安在這裏指導一個高中棒球項目，這是一個小成本項目，工作時間長，酬勞也只相當於他以前在大聯盟打球時薪水的一小部分。蔡本來不應該在這裏，要知道他的名氣曾經堪比洋基隊的球星馬丁利(Don Mattingly)。

“The local people are surprised I put up with these conditions, which is why they support me,” Tsai said. “But I still look at my baseball career fondly, even though there were bad things.”

“我竟然能忍受這樣的條件，當地人都很驚訝，所以他們支持我，”蔡說。“但是，儘管有不好的事情，我仍然滿懷深情地回憶我的棒球生涯。”

The bad things derive from his role in one of the biggest gambling scandals in international baseball, a scheme in which Tsai and several dozen other players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, which is the top-tier league in Taiwan, were accused of throwing games from 2006 to 2009 in exchange for thousands of dollars from gamblers.

那些不好的事情是指他在國際棒球史上最大的一起賭博醜聞中所扮演的角色，蔡和其他幾個中華職業棒球聯盟（臺灣頂級棒球聯賽）球手被控於2006年到2009年期間，收取賭博組織者數萬美元，在比賽時打假球。

Orchestrating the fraud was a gangster who went by the nickname Windshield Wiper, an inside joke among his associates that referred to his quick temper. It was a colorful detail in a case that was as riveting for fans and commentators as a playoff series.

操縱這一造假事件的是一個綽號“雨刷”的黑幫成員，這個外號來自他和同夥之間的玩笑，指的是他的火爆脾氣。案件細節非常豐富，對於球迷和評論員來說，如同季後賽系列賽一樣精彩。

Gambling in baseball is almost as old as the game itself. In America, every fan knows about the Black Sox scandal, in which eight players threw the 1919 World Series, leading to lifetime bans. Pete Rose is still barred by Major League Baseball because he bet on games.

賭球從一開始就伴隨着棒球這項運動。在美國，所有球迷都知道黑襪醜聞(Black Sox)，當時有八名球員在1919年世界大賽(World Series)中打假球，最後被判終生禁賽。皮特•羅斯(Pete Rose)因爲下注賭球，至今被美國職業棒球大聯盟(Major League Baseball)禁賽。

Gambling scandals have swept through the Asian leagues with alarming regularity, exposing deep ties between crime rings and the sport even as they strive to make an international mark.

儘管亞洲棒球界一直致力於謀求國際影響力，但賭博醜聞在亞洲棒球聯盟中的泛濫令人擔憂，暴露出犯罪團伙與這項運動之間的深厚聯繫。

This year, several players for the Tokyo Giants, Japan’s best-known team, were accused of consorting with gamblers. The troubles in Taiwan, however, were far larger. They almost sank the league.

今年，日本最著名的棒球隊東京巨人隊(Tokyo Giants)的幾名球員被指控與賭球者勾結。然而臺灣的問題要大得多，幾乎令整個聯盟覆滅。

Foreign players have thought twice before agreeing to play in Taiwan (at least one foreigner, a manager, was named in the scandal), and an Australian team declined to sign a Taiwanese pitcher who was linked to the scheme but not charged. (He played in the Dodgers farm system this year.) The country’s push to play host to a part of the World Baseball Classic, which is run by Major League Baseball, has slowed as well.

外國球手在同意到臺灣打球之前（這項醜聞至少涉及一名總教練，他是一個外國人）會三思而行，一個澳大利亞隊拒絕簽下一個與這次醜聞有關但未被起訴的臺灣投手（今年他在道奇隊[Dodgers]的農場系統打球）。臺灣一直希望承辦由美國職業棒球大聯盟(Major League Baseball)主辦的世界棒球經典賽(World Baseball Classic)的部分賽事，這一努力如今也因之放緩。

Before the arrest in 2009 of the Windshield Wiper, whose real name is Tsai Cheng-yi, the Taiwanese league endured several other game-fixing scandals, remarkable in a league that was founded only in 1989 and has had as few as four teams. Players were kidnapped and pistol-whipped, and their families were threatened. One coach was stabbed. Gangsters were arrested and players banished. Attendance dipped, too, but within a year or two, many fans returned.

“雨刷”真名蔡政宜，在他於2009年被捕之前，臺灣棒球聯盟便已經發生過若干操縱比賽的醜聞。該聯盟於1989年創立，最初只有四隻球隊，因此醜聞顯得格外引人矚目。當時曾有球員遭到綁架，被槍支抽打，家人受到威脅。甚至有一名教練被刀捅。後來黑幫成員遭到逮捕，參與的球員被除名。賽事上座率出現下降，但是一兩年過後，很多球迷又回來了。

The Windshield Wiper case, however, was much bigger.

然而“雨刷”一案要大得多。

From 2006 to 2009, the Windshield Wiper and his intermediaries paid dozens of players as much as $30,000 for each game they agreed to throw. In all, more than 40 players, coaches, retired players, gangsters and politicians were implicated, including Tsai, Chen Chih-yuan and other stars.

從2006年至2009年，“雨刷”和他的中間人向數十名球員行賄，以每場3萬美元的價格換取他們打假球。共有40多名球員、教練、退役球員、黑幫成員和政客涉案，其中包括蔡豐安和陳致遠等球星。

One manager was charged and left the country. An elected political leader in southern Taiwan, Wu Chien-pao, who ran his own gambling ring and had players beaten if they did not cooperate, was jailed. The Windshield Wiper is serving a four-year sentence.

一名總教練遭到指控，並離開了臺灣。臺南民選政治領袖吳建保經營自己的賭博鏈條，毆打不合作的球員，因此入獄。“雨刷”被判四年徒刑。

The Elephants, Tsai Feng-an’s old team, were so badly damaged, they were sold.

蔡豐安過去的球隊——兄弟象棒球隊遭受重創，被賣掉了。

Attendance leaguewide fell, but it perked up in 2013, when Manny Ramirez, the outfielder who had his best years with the Boston Red Sox in the early 2000s, played in Taiwan.

整個聯賽的上座率都出現下滑，但在2013年，因爲21世紀初期曾隨波士頓紅襪隊(Boston Red Sox)打出職業生涯最好成績的外野手曼尼•拉米雷斯(Manny Ramirez)來臺灣打球，上座率又出現回升。

The league has tried to head off future scandals by allowing law enforcement officials to attend every game. Players are lectured on the evils of gambling and subject to random investigations. The criminal penalties for gambling and fraud were increased, and a national sports lottery was created to give gamblers a legal avenue to bet on games.

聯盟試圖通過執法者參與每場賽事來預防賭博。球員會受到關於賭球危害性的教育，會隨機接受調查。賭博和作假所受的刑罰將會增加。此外，還開放了全國運動彩票，以便賭博者通過合法渠道賭球。

“We hope the worst has passed,” John Chih-yang Wu, the league’s commissioner, said. “It’s impossible to stop the Taiwanese people from gambling, but we think we have good prevention now and the influence of the mafia has decreased.”

“我們希望最壞的都過去了，”聯盟會長吳志揚說。“要防止臺灣人賭球是不可能的，但我們認爲現在已經有很好的預防機制，黑幫的影響已經降低了。”

There have been no reported cases of game-fixing since 2009, he said.

他說，自從2009年以來，已經沒有假球案件的報告。

Most players involved confessed to taking part in the scheme and avoided jail by paying fines equal to the bribes they took.

很多涉案球員對參與賭球供認不諱，通過繳納與所收賄賂同等的罰金來避免入獄。

They were banished from professional baseball and, having trained most of their lives to become ballplayers, they have had trouble finding work, the shame of being implicated sending them into hiding.

他們被禁止參加職業棒球賽，而且，接受了多年棒球訓練的他們很難找到其他工作，捲入罪案的恥辱亦令他們隱姓埋名。

But two players, Tsai and Chen, agreed to speak to The New York Times about how they have sought to redeem themselves.

但是蔡豐安和陳致遠這兩名球員同意接受《紐約時報》採訪，談一談他們又是如何自我救贖的。

They have taken different paths.

他們選擇了不同的方式。

Tsai returned to rural Nantou County. Because of his banishment, he cannot wear a baseball uniform or coach a team, so he instead looks for money to keep his program afloat and to build a new stadium. He bunks with his coaches and players in a dingy dormitory where the communal dining area is next to a homemade indoor batting cage.

蔡豐安回到南投鄉間。因爲遭到禁賽，所以他無法再披上職業選手的球衣或擔任球隊教練，於是他四處籌錢維持自己項目的運作，並 在籌備建立一座新球場。他與自己的教練和選手們合住在一個陰暗邋遢的宿舍，公共用餐區旁邊是一個自建的室內擊球練習場。

Tsai had spent years fighting the charges that he helped throw four games. After his initial two-year jail sentence was reduced to six months, he agreed to pay a fine of about $100,000 to settle the case. His probation, which ended in August, required that he report daily to a police station, a humiliation he found difficult after such an illustrious career.

對於自己受到的在四場比賽中參與打假球的指控，他曾進行多年的申辯。在最初的兩年有期徒刑減爲六個月後，他同意支付約爲10萬美元的罰款，了結這樁案件。他的緩刑已於8月結束。緩刑期間，他被要求每天都要向一個派出所報到。有過頗爲輝煌的職業生涯之後，他覺得這是一種恥辱，難以做到。

Friends offered him jobs at a university and a technology company, where he could have earned two to three times more than the roughly $1,000 a month he makes now. Instead, he returned to central Taiwan, where he grew up, to work with children and get back to basics.

朋友爲他提供了在一所大學和一家科技公司工作的機會。在那些地方，他的收入會是現在的兩到三倍。他現在的月薪約爲1000美元。但他回到了自己長大的臺灣中部，和孩子們一起工作，迴歸本原。

“Most players would not be willing to do what I do now, teaching baseball in a school, because it’s a lot of work and not much money,” he said. “Even though I got a six-month sentence, I’m still pretty much a free soul.”

“大部分球員可能都不願意做我現在做的事情，在學校裏教棒球，因爲工作量大，又沒多少錢，”他說。“儘管被判了六個月的刑，但我大致上還是一個自由的靈魂。”

Chen lives a flashier life in Taipei. He runs a restaurant that serves aboriginal food like fried crickets, mountain boar and beetle nut flowers. His wife is a minor celebrity.

陳致遠在臺北的生活要更風光一些。他經營着一家餐廳，售賣炸蟋蟀、山野豬和檳榔花等原住民食物。他的妻子是一位小有名氣的歌星。

He also produces a rice snack with a friend and donates the proceeds to baseball programs in regions where poor aboriginal children live. He tutors high school players.

他還和一位朋友製作米花小吃，將收益捐獻給貧窮原住民孩子所在地區的棒球項目。他也教高中的學生打棒球。

But in Taiwan, where baseball is almost a national religion, neither man will regain the stature he commanded as a professional ballplayer. Each continues to proclaim his innocence, but the game-fixing scandal has been a hard stain to erase.

然而，在棒球幾乎稱得上是一種民族宗教的臺灣，兩人都沒能重獲他們作爲職業棒球手時的聲望。二人依然聲稱自己是清白的，但這場的假球醜聞一直是個難以去除的污點。

“I left baseball because of the scandals, and that’s not something that I can change,” Chen said at his restaurant, La Fung, or the Guest. “But I can change myself, set goals for myself. I have a wife and kids to take care of. I need to maintain a positive attitude.”

“我放棄棒球是因爲那場醜聞，那不是我能改變的東西，”陳致遠說在他的“樂飯”餐廳裏說。“但我能改變自己，給自己設定目標。我有妻子和孩子要照顧。需要保持一種積極的態度。”

The Arrests

逮捕

The case that was their undoing was discovered almost by accident.

毀掉他們職業生涯的這個案件可以說是意外被曝光的。

A prosecutor in Taipei, Wang Cheng-hao, received an anonymous tip after the 2008 season that hundreds of thousands of dollars were being wagered on baseball games, and the Windshield Wiper was winning most of the time.

2008年的賽季結束後，臺北檢察官王正皓接到匿名提供的祕密消息，稱有數十萬美元的資金被用來在棒球賽中賭球，而其中大多數被“雨刷”贏走了。

Gambling is not a crime, but fixing games is.

賭球不是違法行爲，但假球是。

Wang and investigators looked at the Windshield Wiper’s bank and phone records and discovered a network of middlemen that ultimately led them to the players.

王正皓和調查人員查看了“雨刷”的銀行和手機記錄，發現了一箇中間人網絡，這最終將他們引至幾名球手。

The Windshield Wiper, who was from southern Taiwan and in his late 30s at the time, was one of the biggest gamblers in the country.

來自臺南的“雨刷”當時年屆40，是臺灣最大的賭球者之一。

He was subtler than most gangsters. Instead of laundering money through businesses that served as fronts, he had dummy accounts set up in his friends’ names. He had no gambling convictions.

與大多數黑幫成員相比，他的手法更巧妙，不是通過作爲幌子的生意洗錢，而是用朋友們的名字開假賬戶。他沒有賭博的前科。

He was a baseball fan, though, and he liked to hang around ballparks, where he sat near the dugout and chatted up players, some of whom joined him for dinner. He also befriended former players living in southern Taiwan, whom he paid to recruit active players.

不過，他是棒球迷，喜歡在球場出沒，坐在球員區附近和球員聊天，有些球員還跟他共進晚餐。他還同一些臺灣南部的退役球員交朋友，付錢讓他們介紹現役球員打假球。

Wang collected evidence through the 2009 season to determine which players were involved. He made arrests when the season was over.

王正皓在整個2009賽季裏收集證據，判斷哪些球員參與了賭球。賽季結束後，他開始了逮捕行動。

“If we arrested him during the season, it would have affected the games, but if we didn’t stop him after the season, it could affect more games,” Wang said in his office in suburban Taipei.

“如果我們在賽季中就逮捕他，會影響比賽，但如果我們賽季後再不阻止他，就會影響更多比賽，”王正皓在臺北市郊的辦公室接受採訪時說。

According to court documents, one middleman, Chuang Hung-liang, dealt specifically with star players, who at times received money in shoe boxes. Some players were motivated to take bribes because they were upset with their low salaries; others felt threatened.

根據法庭文件顯示，中間人莊宏亮專門負責找明星球員，這些球員有時會收到用鞋盒裝着的錢。有些球員因爲薪水太低才收取賄賂，還有一些人是因爲受了威脅。

After his arrest, the Windshield Wiper initially denied everything, but ultimately he named about 40 people. The investigation reached back four seasons, to 2006. Some of the appeals, including Tsai’s, dragged into 2014.

被捕後，“雨刷”先是什麼都不承認，但最後說出了約40個名字。調查向前追溯了四個賽季，直至2006年。有些上訴一直拖到2014年，包括蔡豐安的案件在內。

A Ticket Out

出路

Like other players from rural Taiwan, Tsai and Chen saw baseball as their ticket out of poverty.

和其他來自臺灣鄉村的球員一樣，蔡豐安和陳致遠也視棒球爲擺脫貧困的門票。

Tsai began playing in the streets with friends with whatever equipment they could find. When he was 10, he was recruited to attend a private school with a well-known team. In 1988, Tsai was good enough to travel to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., where his team won the title by beating the team from Pearl City, Hawaii.

蔡豐安開始在街上和朋友們打球時，他們用手邊可以找到的任何裝備來打。10歲那年，他被一傢俬立學校錄取，加入一個很有名的球隊。1988年，蔡豐安憑藉出色的球技，到賓夕法尼亞的威廉波特小聯盟世界系列賽(Little League World Series)打比賽，他的球隊擊敗來自夏威夷珍珠市的球隊贏得了冠軍。

When the boys returned home, they were paraded through the streets. The trip was eye-opening for the son of a bus driver and a hairdresser who rarely saw him play.

球隊回到家鄉後遊街慶祝。這次旅行令這個公車司機與理髮師的兒子大開眼界，而父母很少去看他比賽。

“Country folks don’t really watch baseball games,” Tsai said over noodles at a restaurant near his school. “They have loads of things to do; they’re very busy.”

“鄉親們不怎麼看棒球賽，”蔡豐安在學校附近的飯館裏邊吃麪條邊接受採訪。“他們有太多事情要做，非常忙碌。”

Given his modest means, playing baseball was a necessity. He turned pro in 1997 and joined the Mercuries Tigers. When the club folded after the 1999 season, Tsai joined the Brother Elephants. He had a career year in 2002, hitting 21 home runs and batting .294. He played in the 2004 Olympics, where Taiwan finished fifth.

因爲家境貧寒，打棒球成了謀生的必需。1997年，他成了職業球員，加入三商虎球隊。1999賽季之後，俱樂部倒閉了，蔡豐安又加入了兄弟象。他職業生涯的高峯是2002年，打出了21個全壘打和.294的打擊率。他參加了2004年的奧運會，臺灣隊最終獲得第五名。

“By the time I became a pro, I wouldn’t say I was happy about this,” said Tsai, rail thin and all business. “Most of the players come from poorer families, so the only thing they thought about was playing well so they would have a bargaining chip to get more money to help their families. It was a job.”

“成爲職業球員時，我不能說自己很開心，”身材削瘦的蔡豐安說話直接。“大多數球員都來自窮困家庭，他們只想好好打球，有籌碼談到更多薪水，幫助家裏。這只是一份工作。”

Though salaries in the Taiwanese league have increased in recent years, they are nothing like what players in Major League Baseball earn, and they are barely more than what a manager at a white-collar company might bring in.

儘管臺灣聯賽球員的薪資近年來有所增加，但還是與美國職業棒球大聯盟球員的薪資相去甚遠，比一個白領公司經理的薪酬高不了多少。

Because they are celebrities, they are often invited to bars and restaurants, where their tabs are covered.

因爲他們是名人，所以經常會被請到酒吧和飯店，要他們埋單。

“Taiwanese players like to drink, and drinking is a way to relax, but once they start going out with people, that creates a lot of trouble because people know who you are and will want a lot of things from you,” Tsai said. “Drinking would make you do stupid things.”

“臺灣球員喜歡喝酒，喝酒是一種放鬆的方式，但他們一旦開始出去和人喝酒，就會惹出很多麻煩，因爲人們都知道你是誰，就會希望從你這裏得到很多東西，”他說。“喝酒會讓你做傻事。”

Prosecutors accused Tsai of throwing four games years after he stopped playing.

蔡豐安退役數年後，檢察官控告他在四場比賽中打假球。

He was sentenced in 2011 to two years in jail and ordered to pay a fine. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to a six-month jail term, which he avoided by paying a smaller fine.

2011年，他被判入獄兩年，繳納罰金。上訴後，判決減至入獄六個月，繳納了一小筆罰金後，他得以免於服刑。

He said that in the first few years after he left baseball, at least five groups of gangsters tried to get him to help them fix games. Some, he said, offered as much as $300,000. He refused.

他說，離開棒球的前幾年裏，至少有五組黑幫來找他，要求他幫忙聯繫球員打假球。他說，有些人開價到30萬美元，他都拒絕了。

“If I was willing to do it, I could have done it ages ago, rather than teaching kids baseball and getting 30,000 dollars a month,” he said, referring to New Taiwan dollars. At current rates, that would be about $950 a month.

“如果我想幹這種事，我早幾年就幹了，不會在這裏教小孩子打棒球，賺每月3萬塊錢的薪水，”他說的3萬塊錢是指新臺幣，按照目前的匯率約合950美元一個月。

Tsai has three young children, but his days are spent with his players, with potential donors and at the construction site where a new county stadium is being built. He said he gets up at 6 a.m. and finishes work at midnight.

蔡豐安有三個小孩，但他的時間都和球員以及潛在的贊助者們一起度過，或是呆在興建中的縣體育館的工地上。他說自己早晨六點就起牀，將近午夜才收工。

Budgets are tight, so broken bats and worn baseballs are patched up with tape.

預算很緊張，折斷的球棒和破損的棒球都用膠布粘起來繼續用。

He said he told his students that pro ballplayers can earn a lot of money, but also spend a lot of it. Better, he said, to live modestly and humbly.

他說，自己告訴學生們，職業棒球運動員能賺很多錢，但也會花掉很多錢，簡樸低調地生活是最好的。

Unlike Tsai, who works in relative anonymity, Chen lives in Taipei in plain sight. Tan and fit, he was known as the Golden Warrior on the Elephants. But while once among the highest-paid players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, earning about $100,000 a year, Chen now tries to make ends meet.

和近乎隱姓埋名工作的蔡豐安不同，身在臺北的陳致遠生活在衆目睽睽之下。黝黑健康的他在兄弟象隊綽號“黃金戰士”。他曾是中華職業棒球聯盟薪資最高的球員，年薪達到10萬美元，但現在只能勉強做到收支平衡。

Most days, he is at his restaurant. He advises a high school baseball team that his brother coaches. With a friend, he produces dried snacks called hao bang, which means “good bat” in English. A cartoon of Chen’s face is on the wrappers.

他大多數時間都在自己的餐廳，還爲一箇中學生棒球隊擔任顧問，他的兄弟在那裏做教練。他還同一個朋友一起做一種名叫“好棒”的脫水點心，它是“好的球棒”的意思。包裝上還有陳致遠的卡通頭像。

The profits are spent on sports equipment for poor children, he said. He is from an aboriginal village in eastern Taiwan, where he said he had no refrigerator and went barefoot as a child.

他說，賣點心的盈利用來給貧困的孩子買體育裝備。他說，自己來自臺灣東部的原住民鄉村，小時候家裏沒有冰箱，他也沒有鞋穿。

The legal troubles effectively ended his career, something he has tried to get past.

法律糾紛基本上終止了他的職業生涯，他說，自己試圖忘懷這件事。

Chen is now more cautious, wary of gangsters. When he is invited to dine out, he asks who else will be there. If there is a name he does not recognize, he declines the invitation. He also tells younger players to simplify their lives, implying that he did not. After all, he was sentenced to at least a year in jail that he settled by paying a fine.

陳致遠如今變得更加謹慎，小心提防幫派分子。如果受邀出去吃飯，他會問還有什麼其他人在場。如果有不認識的人到場，他就會拒絕邀請。他還告訴年輕球員，生活要單純一點，暗示自己過去沒有做到這一點。當時他被判處入獄至少一年，最後繳納罰金才得以免於服刑。

“My own story is like teaching material for other people to learn from,” he said. “The scandal is in the past and it’s bound to surface one day, so there’s no running away from it. I learned a lot, and if people don’t like it, I will do better to make them understand I’m not who they think.”

“我的故事就像給其他人學習的教材，”他說。“醜聞是過去的事，總有一天會曝光，所以沒什麼可逃避的。我學到了很多教訓，如果人們不喜歡，我會做得更好，讓他們瞭解我不是他們想的那樣。”