Chief Umpire praises Dou-liou Baseball Stadium

Chief Umpire praises Dou-liou Baseball Stadium
[Wen Ling Huang]
Richard Runchey, director of umpires for the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), went to Dou-liou and Intercontinental baseball stadiums with tournament director Jan Essleman and other colleagues today.

2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament will take place from 7th March 2008. Runchey checked the safety standards of two stadiums and praised Dou-liuo one, “It’s beautiful, very beautiful.” Essleman also agreed that, “Intercontinental Stadium is probably the best one in Taiwan, but Dou-liuo Stadium is also very nice.”

While high approval ratings, chief umpire pointed out that some rubbers mats on the warning chain in Dou-liuo ballpark don’t fit very well. The place becomes a bit uneven and this may cause players’ injuries.

Moreover, the area originally designed for photographers is restricted to TV video cameras only now. According to Runchey, “We need to put a fence around this area, in case photographers moving out and impacting the games.” “Only TV, not photographers” is the new principle for that media area.

They later try to pitch on the pitcher’s mound, and found that it is lower than they expected. But the defects above all can be corrected before the match day. “There should be more games and teams playing here,” Runchey said. He hopes more fans can come to this beautiful stadium, particularly for the coming tournament.