Chinese Taipei baseball team

Chinese Taipei baseball team 中華臺北棒球代表隊
Country	Republic of China
Federation	Chinese Taipei Baseball Association
Confederation	Baseball Federation of Asia
Manager	Yeh Chih Shien
World Baseball Classic
Appearances	1 (First in 2006)
Best result	12
Olympics
Appearances	4 (First in 1984)
Best result	Silver (1992)
World Cup
Appearances	14 (First in 1972)
Best result	Silver (1984)
Asian Games
Appearances	5 (First in 1990)
Best result	Gold (2006)

The Chinese Taipei baseball team (traditional Chinese: 中華臺北棒球代表隊; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi Bàngqiú Dàibiǎoduì), is the national team of the Republic of China (commonly known as "Taiwan"). It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.

Due to political pressures from the People's Republic of China on international sports organizations, and the growing international recognition of the PRC's government as the sole representative of all China, the delegation had to reach a compromise name, changing it from the National Baseball Team of the Republic of China (traditional Chinese: 中華民國棒球國家隊; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Bàngqiú Guójiāduì) to Chinese Taipei Baseball Team.^[1]

The team is often considered as one of the best baseball teams in Asia, along with Japan and South Korea. The team comprises amateurs and professionals from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, Japan's Central League and Pacific League, and North American major (MLB) and minor leagues.

The team has participated in many of the international and regional tournaments and has achieved many successes. It has won four champions in Asian Baseball Championship, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and a silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Its recent success was the winning of the gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in a sweeping victory by beating South Korea, Thailand, China, Philippines, and finally Japan.

Name controversy

In 1954, when the team first participated in the Asian Baseball Championship, it competed under the name of United Team of Taiwan. Since the expulsion of the Republic of China from the United Nations in 1971, the National Baseball Team of the Republic of China was forced to compete internationally under the name of Chinese Taipei because the People's Republic of China's diplomatic pressure through the One China Policy. In Taiwan it is both referred to as 中華隊 (hanyu pinyin: Zhōnghuá Duì; literally, Chinese (cultural) team) or 台灣隊 (hanyu pinyin: Táiwān Duì; literally, Taiwanese team).

Regional competition

Asian Baseball Championship

Chinese Taipei has a very successful history in participating the Championship. It has finished 4 times in the first place, 6 times in the second place and 10 times in the third place. The team competed again in the 2007 Asian Baseball Championship which was held in Taiwan.

Asian Games

Chinese Taipei has not missed any of the Asian Games since its first appearance in the Asian Games was in 1990 in Beijing, China. In Beijing, it finished in first place, however, it was a demonstration sport thus it did not receive any medal. Its second appearance was in 1994 where it finished in third place. In 1998, it again finished in third place. Chinese Taipei lost to South Korea in 2002 in Pusan, South Korea and hence finished in second. It was by far its best result. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, a game-winning walk of hit by Lin Chih Sheng helped to win its first Asian Games baseball gold. The team will be receive seventy million New Taiwan Dollar from the Republic of China government for their excellent achievement in Doha, Qatar.

Doha Asian Games, 2006

Further information: Baseball at the 2006 Asian Games

At the 2006 Asian Games baseball event, Chinese Taipei will against China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. Nonetheless, Japan and South Korea are two of the most threatening teams in the event. The Japanese team is made up of amateurs, however, can be very threatening. South Korea, however, is made up of professionals from the Korean professional league, thus is regarded as the most threatening team to Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei is made of a mix of amateurs and professionals from Taiwan, Japan and America's professional league. Some of the notable players are Kuo Hong Chih, Hu Chin Lung and Chiang Chien Ming. Chinese Taipei’s first game at the 2006 Asian Games baseball was against South Korea. The game was played on 30 November 2006 at the Al-Rayyan Sports Club. The Taiwanese use three home runs, two by Chen Yung Chi and one by Hsieh Chia Hsian, to strike first in the gold medal chase. Despite South Korea had eleven hits, it still lost the game. Taipei had ten hits and both teams committed two errors in the game. Nonetheless, Taipei won its first game.^[2] Chinese Taipei’s second game in Doha was Thailand. Played on 2 December 2006, Pan Wen Lunas the starting pitcher, it was an easy game for Taipei. Chang Chien Ming, Chen Chin Feng, Chen Feng Min had a home run, finishing Thailand in the bottom of the fourth inning. Taipei scored three points in the first inning, nine points in the third inning and four points in the fifth inning. Chinese Taipei sought its third consecutive victory over the People’s Republic of China on 4 December 2006. It was believed to be an unfair game as the South Korean umpire made too many calls against Chinese Taipei. Some believed that the umpire was cheating in order to favour China in attempt to keep South Korea’s hope for gold alive. Chang Tai Shan and Chin-Feng Chen both home runs saved Taipei from losing the game. In the game, Chinese Taipei had eight hits and China had two hits and committed an error. Chinese Taipei played the Philippines on December 5 2006. Having seven points scored in the first inning, Taipei dominated the game quickly. At the end of the forth inning, Chinese Taipei was leading by thirteen points. The game thus ended at the bottom of inning as the Philippines failed to score a point. The final score was 15-0. Taipei hence advanced to the final for second time in the history. Fifteen runs, seventeen hits and one error for Taipei and four hits and two errors for the Philippines. This was the second game for Taipei to finish the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chinese Taipei played Japan in the Asian Games baseball final on 7 December 2006. The Japanese starting pitcher was Hideto Isomura and Chiang Chien Ming was the for starting pitcher for Chinese Taipei as Kuo Hong Chih was unfit for the game. Taipei was three points down after playing two innings. At the end of the third inning Japan led Taipei by one point. The score was 3-2. Japan led Taipei until in the top of the seventh inning but was one point down in the bottom of the seventh inning as Chia-Hsian Hsieh, Chen Feng Min, Hu Chin Lung and Chin-Feng Chen each contributed a point and helped Taipei to lead the game for the first time. The score was 6-5. Japan re-took the lead in the eighth inning but score nothing in the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Taipei had occupied the second and third, then a game-winning walk off hit by Lin Chih Sheng helped Taipei win its first Asian Games baseball gold medal.^[3][4] In this game, Japan had eleven hits and seven runs, however, committed two errors. Taipei, on the other hand, had thirteen hits and eights runs, and committed no error.

Taiwanese players thank the home fans after losing the semifinal game to Cuba in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup

International competition

Intercontinental Cup

See also: 2006 Intercontinental Cup

The team's first appearance at the Intercontinental Cup was in 1973. Since then, the team has won two bronze medal, one in 1983] in Belgium and the recent one in 2006 in Taiwan. Taiwan did not participate in the 1975, 1979, 1981, 1993 and 1997 Intercontinental Cup. It is currently ranked 7th in the Medal Winner Ranking.^[5] Cuba, Japan, Nicaragua and the United States remain Taiwan's four biggest rivals in the Intercontinental Cup.

As the host of the recent 2006 Intercontinental Cup, Taiwan won its second bronze medal after beating Japan in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup final 4-0.

Olympic Games

Barcelona Olympics, 1992

Main article: Baseball at the 1992 Summer Olympics

On 26 July, 1992 and the following ten days, Chinese Taipei competed against seven other national teams from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Spain and the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The teams played each other seven rounds and the top four on the table advance to finals. Chinese Taipei eventually advanced to the finals, beating Japan 5-2 in the semi-finals. It struggled in the final against Cuba, suffering an enormous defeat. The score was 1-11. Nonetheless, it won a silver medal which is still now its best result ever achieved in the Olympics.

Game Summary

26 July 1992 - Round 1, Chinese Taipei defeated Italy 8-2.

27 July 1992 - Round 2, Chinese Taipei lost by one run to the United States. The final score 9-10.

28 July 1992 - Round 3, Chinese Taipei sought its second victory over the Puerto Ricans. The score was 10-1.

29 July 1992 - Round 4, Chinese Taipei dominated the Spanish. The final score was 20-0.

31 July 1992 - Round 5, Chinese Taipei beat the Dominican Republic eleven to nothing.

1 August 1992 - Round 6, Chinese Taipei faced one of its two main rivals from Asia - Japan. It acquired its fifth victory by beating Japan 2-0

2 August 1992 - Round 7, in the final round, Chinese Taipei suffered another defeat to the Cubans. This time Chinese Taipei scored only one run. The score was 1-8.

4 August 1992 - Semi-final, Chinese Taipei defeated Japan 5-2 and would played against Cuba in the final.

5 August 1992 - Final, Chinese Taipei was defeated by Cuba. Final score 1-11.

Athens Olympics, 2004

See also: Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Team squads#Chinese Taipei

Chinese Taipei qualified for the 2004 Olympics by finishing 2nd in the Asian Baseball Championship. The team ended up finishing 5th in the tournament.

Beijing Olympics, 2008

See also: Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Team squads#Chinese Taipei

The team qualified for the 2008 Olympics by finishing 3rd place in the Final Qualifying Tournament.

On August 15, Chinese Taipei lost to China for the first time in an international baseball event. However, it had been suspected by DPP legislators that Beijing set up the schedule unfair to Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei was scheduled to play the latest game the day before. It was estimated that the players could only get three hours of sleep.^[6] This allegation has been rebuked by the governing party KMT as playing politics over baseball games as well as by the International Olympic Committee as common scheduling practice. The IOC further gave examples of other games being scheduled in a similar matter.

The team finished 5th in the tournament.

World Cup of Baseball

Main article: World Cup of Baseball

World Baseball Classic

Main article: World Baseball Classic

Chinese Taipei participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. The squad included players from Major League Baseball. During the Classic, the team played in Pool A but ended up being the third place and did not advance. Their only victory was a 12-3 win over China.

see also: List of the Chinese Taipei baseball team squad at the 2006 World Baseball Classic

Jersey

Before 1984

Home

Away

1984-1999

Home

Away

1999-2003

Home

Away

2003-Present

Home

Away

Honours

• Asian Baseball Championship
  • 1st place, 1983 (Together with Japan and South Korea), 1987, 1989 (Together with Japan and South Korea), 1991, 2001
  • 2nd place, 1955, 1969, 1985 (Together with South Korea), 2003, 2005
  • 3rd place, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999
  • 4th place, 1954, 1975
  • 5th place, 1971

• Asian Games
  • 1st place 1990 (Demonstration sport), 2006
  • 2nd place, 2002
  • 3rd place, 1994, 1998

• Intercontinental Cup
  • 3rd place, 2006

• Olympics
  • 2nd place, 1992
  • 3rd place, 1984 (Demonstration sport)
  • 5th place, 2004
  • 5th place, 2008

• World Cup of Baseball
  • 2nd place, 1984
  • 3rd place, 1986, 1988, 2001
  • 4th place, 1982, 2003
  • 5th place, 1973

Records

• Largest win — Republic of China 30 - 0 India , (Japan, 1987)
• Worst defeat — Republic of China 3 -20 the Netherlands , (Belgium, 15 July 1983)

See also

• Asian Baseball Championship
• Chinese Professional Baseball League
• Intercontinental Cup
• List of the Chinese Taipei baseball team squad at the 2006 Asian Games
• List of the Chinese Taipei baseball team squad at the 2006 World Baseball Classic
• Taiwan Series
• World Baseball Classic
• World Cup of Baseball
• One-China policy
• Cross-Straits relations

References

External links

• Chinese Taipei Baseball Association Official Website
• The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games