Chang Tai-shan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chang Tai-shan (traditional Chinese: 張泰山; pinyin: Zhāng Tàishān; Wade-Giles: Chāng T'ài-shān; born October 31, 1976 in Taitung, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese professional baseball player. Originally drafted by the Wei Chuan Dragons in 1996, he has been playing for the Sinon Bulls since 2000 after the Dragons' dissolution in 1999. A well-known slugger, Chang has been a frequent member of the Taiwan national baseball team since 1998 and holds the record of hitting the most home runs in the Chinese Professional Baseball League history (197 home runs as of the end of 2007 season).

[edit] Personal background

Chang fell in love at first sight with Wu Jing-yi (吳靜宜), who is three years older than him. At that time, she was a student, Chang sent her to her home after she finished the class. In this way he earned her trust and won her heart. After dating her for about three years, Chang proposed marriage to her and they got married on November 20th 1999. One thing very special is that they held their wedding ceremony on a baseball field. He was the first baseball player who got married in baseball field; his life is all connected to baseball.

Wu Jing-yi is always very supportive and gives good advices when he meets difficulties. He is not only a good baseball player but also a good husband. Because of this image, he and his wife are asked to show together in a TV commercial to promote pesticide. In the TV commercial, Wu screamed when she saw a cockroach on the floor, and Chang then appeared and killed it with the pesticide. Then Chang hug Wu to comfort her. We can see the sweet interaction between them, the plot is much the same as their daily life, they always help each other whenever and whatever things happen.

In 2006, Chang started an activity to help mentally retarded children. Every time Chang hits a home run, he and his Sinon Bulls will donate NT$3000 to Children Are Us Foundation. He has been inspired for this project by his nephew, who is one of these children. "It very hard for parents to raise children with intelligence disability", Chang says. So he hopes by doing this he can help more children like his nephew. Chang hopes that he can collect NT$1000000 this year(2006). There are also plans to hold, such as some charity bazaars to raise more money to achieve the goal. " I am not going to do this for only one year, I will continue to do this for those children. I hope my fans could support me because the strength of only one person is not enough," Chang says.

[edit] Career statistics