“If my father hadn’t gotten lost, I wouldn’t have found my way here,” says Carlos Teller, and then he laughs – loudly – as he takes in his surrounds tonight at the Xuhui West Bund Baseball Park in Shanghai, some 8,930 long miles from his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua.
“My dad was a mechanic,” is how the Teller story continues. “When I was very young, like five years old, he got lost coming home from work and he ended up at a baseball field. That night he came home and he said, ‘Son, I got a team for you right now.’ I had been just playing in the park near our home but he thought this was fate, and he said, ‘I got a team for you. You can play for real.’ That’s how it all started … and that was a long time ago.”
Teller is now 39, with 21 professional baseball seasons behind him. The Nicaraguan pitcher freely admits he was close to calling it quits recently, too, maybe to turn his attention to some coaching. But then his agent called, and he talked up the opportunities being offered by the fledgling Chinese Professional Baseball league.
And now here’s Teller, playing for the Beijing Loongs, one of the expansion teams in the CPB league’s second season, and the lefty is set to bring the heat in the month ahead against the Shanghai Orcas, Xiamen Dolphins, Changsha Want Want, Fuzhou Sea Knights and Shenzhen Bluesox, who entered the new season as reigning champions.
“I bring a lot of experience,” says Teller. “I have played in the World Baseball Classic, and everywhere from Dominican Republic winter ball to Venezuela and just everywhere. When I throw a pitch and I help the team get a win it is still a huge thrill for me in my mind, and that's what I will try to do here with the team - and help us win a championship.”
Teller signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an 18-year-old known for his accuracy and as well as stints in America’s minor leagues, he has over the two decades since plied his trade for clubs in Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Canada.
According to the CPB fact sheet, there are 177 players spread across the rosters this season, with 42 of them being internationals (24.29 per cent). There’s an obvious push for a mix between veterans and rising talent as the league continues to grow, building from one venue (Shenzhen) in season one, to two now (Shanghai and Shenzhen) and on towards what is planned as a 2028 launch of a full and cross-nation, home-and-away season.
Teller, who had only just hooked up with his teammates the day before we talked, arrived for his first ever trip to China knowing exactly what his role will be with Beijing.
“I never, never, never thought I would end up playing in China,” he says. “My experience is going to be very important in a team and when we have young guys. The guys with experience are here to keep the harmony in the clubhouse and enjoy the game. If we build on that we can win the championship.”
If this were to really be some kind of fairytale, then maybe, if you squeezed your eyes and you wished hard enough, you could see Teller starting his career with a no-hitter or some other little slice of CPB history. Maybe.
But reality has a habit of intervening when it comes to pro ball, and the truth is Teller went out there against the Shanghai Orcas and he simply got down to work, lasting until the bottom of the fifth before being pulled after giving up a run, and with two lurking dangerously on base. The switch worked and, in the end, it was a 4-2 win to Beijing – their first ever in the CPB. Job done, says Teller, and the league is only just starting to warm up.
“I am still just grateful to be here, to enjoy every single minute on the field,” says Teller. “To see the cheerleaders they have here, and the songs and the dancers – there is just so much that is different. It’s a different culture here, a different baseball culture, and I am here to learn all about it.”
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