Chien Hsu, the star pitcher for Taiwan's entry in the Little League World Series, was eliminated from the roster when his wife and three young children visited him in the clubhouse after Wednesday's qualifying game.
Hsu, 37, told a hastily arranged Williamsport, Pennsylvania news conference that he "deeply regretted" the confusion over his age. Hsu was listed on the team roster as being 14.
"I am truly sorry to have brought shame upon my family and nation," Hsu said, sporting razor stubble and a partially visible shoulder tattoo apparently depicting a Budweiser label. "I did not understand the rules of Little League. I thought that since I was little--I am just over five feet tall--I qualified."
Hsu said that he thought Little League was similar to 6 feet-and-under basketball leagues, which are popular in the United States.
"My children kept saying, 'Daddy, Daddy, you are so old compared with your teammates," Hsu told reporters. "I did find it odd that none of them smoked or were married, just me."
Hsu was to have pitched in the championship game in the Asia bracket for a Taiwan team considered, until his dismissal, the favorite in the annual event. He had pitched Taiwan to sixteen consecutive world championships, a fact that admittedly had raised eyebrows with Little League fans around the world.
"It's a relief," Hsu admitted. "Playing with 12- and 13-year-olds is hard. They swing and miss, they cry. They win, they make fart jokes. Until we talked, they knew nothing about where babies come from. From now on, I will only play with people my own age."
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