Leaving the Past Behind

Baseball in Taiwan is a bit like the island's democracy: sometimes it's corrupt and occasionally even violent, but no matter how rough around the edges, it's still a wellspring of national pride and passion. Many Taiwan people mistily remember the giddy celebration that ensued in 1969 after a team of the island's boys won the international Little League World Series in the U.S.the first of 17 such titles captured by Taiwan. Tens of thousands of fans crowded Taipei's streets to cheer as the team rode through the capital in jeeps. "When those players returned home, some people described it as being...