UPDATE: 11 02 2023: 2:00 p.m.: WBC Chair Jim Small issued an apology regarding the incident through Bros Sports Marketing at noon, which read: “We posted a World Baseball Classic graphic to social media that inadvertently did not include a player from the Chinese Taipei, and we regret the error and the inconvenience we have caused to our friends in Taiwan. We truly appreciate the opportunity to bring the World Baseball Classic back to Taiwan, and we look forward to staging a successful event.”
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After Taiwan's lack of representation in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) promotional graphic caused controversy, Major League Baseball (MLB) added Taiwan's Lin Tzu-wei (林子偉) to the images.
The controversy started on Friday (Feb. 10) when a user named "CK5566" on the online forum PTT expressed indignation in Taiwan at being left out from WBC’s promotional graphics. “I’m so pissed … It’s ridiculous, there is no sight of Taiwan’s team in Pool A’s image … There is even China in Pool B’s image! Outrageous! To think we’re the host country!”
Other baseball fans echoed the author’s sentiment. "Bmwnyy870915" wrote, “Honestly, it’s pretty disrespectful. Even those weaker than Taiwan are on there, not to mention Taiwan is the only one missing.”
In response, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) and Bros Sports Marketing, which is responsible for WBC arrangements in Taiwan, wrote on social media that they had protested to MLB and demanded immediate rectification. “If MLB wants to organize games in Taiwan, then it should respect the host country’s team!” Tsai said, adding in hashtags, “There is no room for negotiation.”
WBC’s social media pages have now been replaced with a set of images showing a representative player of each country’s team. Pool A’s image features Lin Tzu-wei, though the pool’s roster is now missing from the pages.
