提到孫嶺峰，關注中國棒球的朋友們一定不陌生，他在18歲時被選入中國國家棒球隊，擔任過隊長，六次榮獲亞洲棒球錦標賽「盜壘王」，曾被評為中國棒球聯賽最具價值球員。
2010年退役後，孫嶺峰開始從事棒球運動推廣工作。由於曾經做過公益培訓，孫嶺峰深知貧困家庭的孩子比一般孩子更需要關愛和機會。於是，他萌生了將公益與棒球推廣結合的想法。
2015年，孫嶺峰和幾位好友創辦了「棒球天使救助」公益項目，他們將身體健康、家庭貧困的孩子集中在一起，讓他們在上文化課的同時，參加免費的棒球培訓。
「強棒天使」棒球基地位於北京市郊，目前已有67名孩子正在接受訓練。
In a beautiful mountainous area, children jump over creeks clear as mirrors, laughing and racing on country roads. Joyful as it is, the roads sometimes don't necessarily lead to proper education.
42-year-old Sun Lingfeng, former captain of the China men's baseball team, also famously recognized as "forever the first batter," has been to such places many times during the past five years looking for kids in need of help as the founder of "Power Baseball Angel Foundation."
In 2015, Sun launched the foundation to provide baseball training and education for children in poverty, and has since taken in 78 kids. Among the 67 who stayed, children of minority ethnic groups make up 75 percent of them.
The PB (Power Baseball) Angel Baseball Center is situated in Tongzhou District on the outskirts of Beijing, and has dormitories, a dining hall, a library, and two training pitches.
該基地招收隊員有一項特殊條件：必須是來自於貧困家庭，或者是缺失父母的孤兒等困境少年。
這些孩子們與普通孩子不同，貧寒的出身及惡劣的成長環境使得他們格外缺乏自信，他們中的許多人都處於低自尊狀態，又或者有一定的性格缺陷。
幸運的是，在「強棒天使」棒球基地，孩子們開始了新生活。在文化課老師和棒球教練的共同幫助下，他們逐漸建立起自信，慢慢地重拾了對生活的美好期待。
馬虎，綽號「遊俠」，剛來基地時，他桀驁不馴，一言不合就開幹，渾身是「刺兒」。
孫嶺峰說，馬虎從加入棒球隊開始，就一直「拔刺」，是棒球讓他發生了改變。「回到老家以後，馬虎發現別人對他的評價變了，他知道自己變得更好會被大家喜歡，他就有了成就感，願意往更好的方面發展。」孫嶺峰說。
同樣因棒球發生改變的，還有梁正雙。小雙出生前父親就已經去世，出生後母親不知所蹤，他是被親戚養大的。剛進隊的時候，小雙內心細膩脆弱。「他跟只貓似的，特別蔫，不愛說話。」馬虎說。
三年後，小雙變得愛說愛笑。孫嶺峰說：「小雙跟過關一樣，過了自己心裡那道坎兒，一下就打開了。」
The kids are in high spirits during training – throwing balls, swinging bats, doing lifting, and running drills. One can hardly spot the occasional flicker of doubt behind their eyes.
But unlike most children, some of these underprivileged children struggle with issues of abandonment and low self-esteem. A child named Ma Hu used to call himself a "stray dog" when he first came to the team at age 12, exemplifying how his living situation has been internalized into his identity.
Some of these children were abandoned, some raised by grandparents who are incapable of working, or left behind by parents who headed to the city for work.
The foundation has given them the chance to chart out a completely different kind of life. But it's still not a cake walk.
2018年的8月，「強棒天使」棒球隊作為亞太區唯一一支代表隊，受邀參加了PONY世界大賽U11 Bronco組決賽階段的角逐。這是中國棒球歷史上首次直接獲邀代表亞太區參加國際青少年棒球賽事。
儘管孩子們已經竭盡全力，但仍輸給了對手。比賽結束後，隊友們抱在一起痛哭，哭得最厲害的就是小雙。馬虎拿著漢堡勸小雙吃一點，還安慰小雙：「我們以後多的是機會啊。」小雙哭著說：「機會只有一次。」
對於比賽失利，孫嶺峰表示，這趟來美國比賽值了。「因為這次經歷觸動到了孩子們心裡，這對他們來說是人生的成長，是很重要的。」對於小雙說的「機會只有一次」，孫嶺峰卻不認同，「機會永遠都在，只要願意去爭取就一定有機會。」
Life towards professional athleticism include tough training and games that take one through emotional highs and lows, which can break even a grown man. And it's arguably more difficult for these youths who have to pull it off while struggling with low self-esteem, homesickness, and quirky little problems that make their caretakers want to scream.
值得一提的是，孫嶺峰還格外關注女孩的成長與教育，這與他的一次特殊經歷有關。
幾年前在四川考察時，孫嶺峰遇見了一個女孩，她背著重重的柴火走在上學的路上，手裡還抱著年幼的妹妹。當孫嶺峰再次來到這個地方的時候，小女孩竟已結婚。
目前，「強棒天使」棒球基地共有26名女隊員，而孫嶺峰仍在加速女子棒球隊的建設。
「我以後想在奧運會上打棒球。」這是一位8歲女隊員的夢想。「訓練沒有背柴火累，」她說道。
只要女孩們足夠努力，我們完全有理由相信她們能夠實現自己的夢想。
即便奧運之夢未能實現，對女孩教育的重視也應該繼續下去。因為她們長大後，就是社會的「半邊天」。
Sun also spoke of his goal of helping girls, recounting an experience that pushed him to accelerate building the girls' team.
"A few years ago, I went to the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, and saw a girl carrying heavy firewood on her way to school, holding her little sister. The next time I visited the area and saw her again, she was married already."
As of December 2020, there are 26 girls on Sun's team, with the U10 and U12 teams launched already.
There's no reason not to believe great things can be expected from these girls. As people often don't realize, hard-work itself is an ability. With everything managed well, these girls' Olympic dream isn't just a dream.
Even if it doesn't happen, the efforts to empower girls should be carried on, as well as the awareness of uplifting young women of the future when reaching out to underprivileged children, because as far as we know, "women hold up half the sky."
「強棒天使」的故事被拍成了紀錄片《棒！少年》，已於12月11日在國內上映。
該影片獲得了第十四屆FIRST青年電影展的最佳紀錄片大獎，還被網友們評價為「2020最值得帶孩子去看的電影」。
影片導演許慧晶表示，「孩子們成年後或許會成為一名職業運動員，一名大學生或棒球教練，每當有懷疑和否定自己的時候，可以回想起這部記錄他們成長的影片，提醒他們記得年少的自己為了贏得比賽所做的努力和付出，記得自己當初是多麼的勇猛、堅定和無畏，記得接納自己過得自然舒坦一些。」