MLB.com:芬蘭馬林魚球迷專訪 - 美國職棒

剛剛看到MLB.com發了一篇介紹芬蘭球迷的文章
覺得有趣就分享給大家

Tomi Korkeamaki roots on Miami from Finland
https://www.mlb.com/news/the-marlins-fan-in-finland

https://i.imgur.com/jZtgz4n.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N0IG9E8.jpg

Tomi Korkeamaki是一位芬蘭的馬林魚球迷
而讓他開始追馬林魚的契機是在2016年
當年他和妻子要到邁阿密度蜜月
並且決定將當地的職業運動都看過一輪
想當然的就包含馬林魚了

在上網查詢後，發現MLB一季打很多場(162)
所以想說十月去的時候
應該還在打吧

All I knew about baseball is that they play a lot of games, so I started Googl
ing and I found out they play 162. We were coming in October, so I thought they'
d still be playing."


但他很快地發覺
除非馬林魚有進季後賽
不然到時他們是看不到馬林魚比賽的XDDD

Korkeamaki quickly realized that the Marlins would have to make the playoffs
for he and his wife to be able to see them when they were in town.

為此他夏天就買了MLB.TV
開始追馬林魚全部的比賽
期盼他們能為了蜜月打進季後賽


註:他是在飯店工作(從晚上11:00-早上7:00)
所以有很多時間能看XDD


So, during the summer of 2016, he purchased the MLB package and started watch
ing nearly every game while he worked overnight at his hotel job -- hoping, plea
ding, wishing they'd pile up enough victories to make it to October. Just so the
two of them could watch baseball in America.


但最終馬林魚並沒有成功晉級季後賽
甚至九月隊上王牌Jose Fernandez還意外過世QQ
看著隊友、球迷辦的心痛的賽前緬懷活動
加上Dee Gordon的首打席全壘打
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkTy9p91YQc


讓Tomi Korkeamaki對這支他追了整個夏天的球隊
產生了更深的感情連結


所以雖然沒有現場比賽能看
他在蜜月最後一天仍去看了馬林魚主場
而當他看到球場許多球迷寫給Jose Fernandez的信時
讓其很震撼，才真正了解到Fernandez對馬林魚、古巴是多麼重要

也讓他開始好奇、想知道，這支剛失去隊上最佳球員的球隊
今後會有怎麼發展
因此他下一年就開始觀賞更多的馬林魚比賽

Then I saw all the messages that people had wrote there. I don't know w
hat it was, but it really hit me how big he was for the team and Cuban culture.
It hit me really strong. He was a big deal. That's when I realized I wanted to s
ee where this franchise was going, what's going to happen to this club when its
best player suddenly dies. So, the next year I started to watch more and more Ma
rlins games and baseball in general."


而到現在他也追這支球隊五年了
最喜歡的馬林魚球員是Trevor Rogers
然後也很熱愛Brian Anderson
Seriously, whenever Anderson comes to bat he tells his wife, "that's th
e man I love."
最喜歡的MLB球星是白襪隊的Tim Anderson.


現在他也自己開了一個棒球的podcast- Baseball Terapia
和另一位芬蘭的棒球迷Ville Pavola一起主持
主要是談馬林魚和藍鳥(Ville Pavola是藍鳥球迷)
以及各種棒球主題


註:
他們是在推特上認識的
https://twitter.com/VillePave
但兩人到現在從未見過面XDD

然後聽眾比預想的多
每集約略有100多人收聽(podcast是芬蘭語)
也常常看到新的球迷的出現
這也是他們做這podcast的初衷

"More and more people have popped up and said they're into baseball. So
me new fans," Korkeamaki said. "And that's the main focus of our podcast. To t
ry to get people interested in baseball. We try to find stories to tell. It's no
t like we're going over standings or stats."

除了podcast外
Tomi Korkeamaki還是英國知名棒球網站Bat Flips and Nerds.的馬林魚隊寫手

最新一篇是寫Trevor Rogers

TREVOR ROGERS: THE BIG UNIT JR.
http://batflipsandnerds.com/2021/06/05/trevor-rogers-the-big-unit-jr/



他也分享一個有趣的小故事
這事讓他在現實生活中也和馬林魚有了連結
就是幾年前他曾在芬蘭市集，看到有位攤販在賣棒球、球棒
這自然引起Korkeamaki的興趣，而有如命中注定一般
那顆球正是馬林魚隊隊史首場比賽的球(1993年對上道奇)
https://i.imgur.com/lo00GDs.png



最後他也透露芬蘭不只他一位馬林魚粉
他認識至少一位+聽說還有另一位也是XDDD
https://i.imgur.com/MXkCoBn.png



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