Staff writer Albert Chen has fond memories of traveling to Taiwan in January 2008 for a story on Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang and the Wangmania that had swept that country. "It was the first time I'd traveled abroad to write a story," says Chen. "I spent a day with Wang, driving around in a big white van, mostly failing to put the Chinese I'd learned in college to good use. I met Wang in his hometown, Tainan -- the same town where my mother grew up. The piece I wrote was probably the first SI story of mine my mom ever read."

Chen joined SPORTS ILLUSTRATED in September 2000 and has covered baseball, NFL and college football, among other sports. ("There's nothing like the energy of a college football stadium on an autumn Saturday afternoon," he says.) First as a reporter, then as a writer-reporter and a staff writer, Chen has written a hundred stories for the magazine, including the June 2, 2008 cover story, The Super Natural, on Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, one of four cover stories he has written for the magazine.

A 2000 Yale University graduate, Chen resides in Manhattan with his wife, Andrea Woo, an SI FOR KIDS senior editor. Away from the office, Chen enjoys playing tennis at the National Tennis Center in Flushing and USTA league and jogging in Central Park.

EXTRA POINTS

• Favorite SI Vault story and why: Ghost Busters (Jan, 9, 1995) "It's S.L. Price's game story on the Nebraska Cornhuskers' 1995 Orange Bowl win. I was 18 years old and had spent most of my life in Hastings, Nebraska -- Tom Osborne's hometown -- never quite believing the Huskers would ever win a national championship in my lifetime. When the magazine came out, with Osborne on the cover, I read the story from start to finish about 20 times. I can still pretty much recite the first paragraph from memory."
• Person you would most like to interview: "Steven Spielberg, so I can learn a few tips on how to tell a story."
• Favorite book: Jesus' Son, by Denis Johnson. "Every time I pick it up I'm inspired to write. Then I get depressed that I can't write like Johnson."
• Non-sports websites regularly visited: "Rogerebert.com, Andrewsullivan.com, Eater.com, and Hollywood-elsewhere.com"
• Writers who have inspired your work: "Over the years, three writers -- Richard Ford, Michael Chabon, and John Updike -- have inspired me the most, because of the elegance with which they write."

Updated 21 October 2009