Professional baseball in Taiwan

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Professional baseball in Taiwan started with the founding of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 1989. At its 1997 peak, Taiwan had two leagues and 11 professional teams. The competing Taiwan Major League ran from 1997 until its absorption by the CPBL in 2003.

The professional game has suffered from several game-fixing scandals which has led to sharp declines in game attendance.

Contents 1 The CPBL 2 The TML 3 Exporting Talent 4 See also 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] The CPBL

Main article: Chinese Professional Baseball League

The Chinese Professional Baseball League was founded in 1989 with four teams and grew to seven at one point. As of 2006, there are six teams competing for the championship of Taiwan Series.

Since 2005, the winner of the Taiwan Series represents Taiwan in the Asia Series, competing with championship teams from Japan, South Korea and China's professional leagues.

[edit] The TML

Main article: Taiwan Major League

The Taiwan Major League was founded in 1997 by then chairman of TVBS, a popular cable TV channel company, after losing the nine-year (1997 to 2006) broadcasting rights bid of CPBL games to Videoland Television Network. TVBS was the broadcasting right holder from 1993 to 1996.

The league was set-up to compete with the CPBL, but after years of losses, the TML was absorbed by the CPBL in 2003.

[edit] Exporting Talent

While Taiwan has been producing great baseball talent for the last few decades, its best players usually leave the domestic league to play at professional teams in Japan or North America. In the 1980s, Taiwanese pitchers such as Tai-Yuan Kuo and Katsuo Soh (莊勝雄) posted impressive numbers at Seibu Lions and Chiba Lotte Marines, respectively, of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. More recently, young stars such as outfielder Chin-Feng Chen and pitchers Chien-Ming Wang, Chin-Hui Tsao, and Hong-Chih Kuo became the first group of Taiwanese players to play in North American Major League Baseball.

[edit] See also

• Chinese Professional Baseball League
• Taiwan Major League
• Taiwan Series
• Konami Cup Asia Series
• Chinese Taipei baseball team
• Professional baseball in Japan

[edit] Further reading

• Yu, Junwei. Playing in Isolation: A History of Baseball in Taiwan. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 0803211406.

[edit] External links

• Taiwanese Baseball Primer

v • d • e Sport in Taiwan Sports Affairs Council  – Olympic Committee Baseball (National team) Chinese Professional Baseball League (Taiwan Series)  – Taiwan Major League Basketball (National team) Super Basketball League (Champion Series)  – Chinese Basketball Alliance Association football (National team) Enterprise Football League  – Intercity Football League  – Highschool Football League Volleyball (National team) Enterprise Volleyball League bold texts denote professional or semi-professional leagues; italic texts denote defunct leagues