Jim Lefebvre has still not recovered from his post-match
explosion after he was called upon to comment on Team China's
performance in the opening game of the Konami Cup Baseball Asia
Series earlier this month.
His team squandered a 2-1 lead after the first four innings,
allowing La New Bears, the reigning champion team of Chinese Taipei
Professional League, to take a 12-2 victory during the game held in
Tokyo Dome on November 9.
Lefebvre, the American team manager, talked to reporters like a
machine gun and the translator was struggling to follow.
After minutes of non-stop elaboration, he dropped the microphone
heavily on the table, making a loud noise in a small but packed
interview room.
"He must be really angry," a Japanese reporter murmured.
No manger would be happy after such a dramatic downfall. Within
20 minutes the score suddenly switched from 2:1 to 2:10, basically
determining the outcome. Lefebvre's side was not able to score
another run.
Lefebvre had been expecting more. Under his four-year
management, Team China has enjoyed fast improvement. Just before
travelling to Japan, the team defeated European champions, the
Netherlands, for the first time in history in a thrilling
exhibition game on November 4 in Guangzhou.
The high-profile tournament in Japan just brought Team China
back to the earth. After the 12-2 rout by La New Bears, the team
had to settle for another embarrassing 13-1 defeat to South Korea's
Samsung Lions before losing to the host team Nippon Ham Fighters
6-1.
In Lefebvre's eyes, the shortcomings of the Chinese players
became more and more obvious after those defeats and proved to be a
main obstacle for them to grow into world-class players. "They have
no arm strength, I mean, in all positions," Lefebvre said.
Having stronger arms is what he has been persuading Team China
to work on since he first saw the squad in the Daxing training
centre in suburb Beijing four years ago.
By that time, the Chinese players were so small and thin that
Lefebvre immediately brought the team back to the United States for
workouts after spending just ten days in China.
However, it's not easy to change the minds of Chinese players
who have been used to their old training methods.
Lefebvre soon found out when he is not around, the players
always tried to avoid pounding the iron after arduous daily
training. As long as they go back home from the United States,
weight training is neglected proven by the lack of weight-gaining
facilities in the Daxing centre.
"They don't appreciate it," Lefebvre confessed. "They said they
are just too tired to work out."
'Change your attitude'
Facing such "laziness" among the always hard-working Chinese
players, Lefebvre believes it was just a matter of "attitude".
"They think an Asian can not get strong. They just think they
are weak," he said.
Lefebvre tried to prove they are wrong by citing the example of
China's 110m hurdlers world recorder Liu Xiang.
"Is he a Chinese, you bet! Is he strong, you bet!"
The manager thinks if Liu can get strong and become the world's
best, so can his baseball players.
"Change your attitude," he said.
"Getting strong is easy if you are willing to work hard."
Lefebvre said he has proved that more could be accomplished if
his players are willing to following his instruction.
The team travelled to Arizona in January last year, focusing on
weight training during their five-week stay and the players
returned to China in March weighing an average of seven pounds
heavier than when they arrived. Later in May, the team defeated
South Korea for the first time to win a historical bronze medal in
the Asian Championships in Miyazaki, southern Japan.
Despite such success, the Chinese still did not have enough
trust and that frustrates Lefebvre who has a success career both as
player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB).
The 63-year-old was the National League Rookie of the Year in
1965 with the Dodgers. He was named to the National League All-Star
team in 1966 and has been a renowned hitting instructor for many
years. As a manager, he led the Seattle Mariners to their first
winning season in 1990, and also skippered the Cubs and the
Brewers.
"It hurts," he said. "Sooner or later, it's going to be your
game. We can only guide you," he said. "When I go home, I want
those guys to get going."
Olympic task
Besides players, the experienced skipper also needs to win more
trust from the Chinese officials who started to worry about the
prospect of the team which is under a pet project to shine during
the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on home soil.
Although the sport remains in its early development stages in
China and Lefebvre and pitching coach Bruce Hurst started the
process of building a competitive team just three years ago, the
Chinese camp was not as patient as Lefebvre pledged.
Shen Wei, secretary-general of Chinese Baseball Association
rushed to Lefebvre right after the defeat to La New Bears and
anxiously asked what was wrong with the team.
"I told them not to panic," the manager said. "There is a lot
learning to do and a long way to go."
However, the Chinese camp has a good reason to be so anxious
when the 2008 Games is only less than two years away.
"The team needs victories over high-profile teams to prove
itself," Shen said.
Shen's attitude means Lefebvre will have to accelerate his
build-up on China's Olympic team after his honeymoon time with the
squad.
In the past four years, he has led the team to some success such
as qualifying for the World Cup last year and beating Taiwan twice
and South Korea once.
Lefebvre is just upbeat and believes the team will get ready for
the Games on time.
"You are not going to be embarrassed like what happened in
Japan. We are going to be a strong team in 2008," he said.
The Chinese team is now in Doha to participate the Asian Games.
A win over any of the "Asian Baseball Big Three" - Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan is likely to help the team to win a medal at the
six-team tournament.
(China Daily November 30, 2006)