Chinese Professional Baseball League

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (Traditional Chinese: 中華職業棒球大聯盟), or CPBL, is the top-tier professional baseball

Professional baseball

Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

league in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. The league was established in 1989. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League

Taiwan Major League

The Taiwan Major League was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over CPBL broadcasting rights...

in 2003. As of 2008, the CPBL has four teams with average attendance of approximately 3,000 per game.

History

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

was first introduced to Taiwan during Japanese rule

Taiwan under Japanese rule

Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....

, and gained popularity when the national little league baseball teams won numerous Little League World Series

Little League World Series

The Little League Baseball World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 11 to 13 years old. It was originally called the National Little League Tournament and was later renamed for the World Series in Major League Baseball. It was first held in 1947 and is held every August in South...

championships in the 1970s and 1980s. The national baseball team also performed exceptionally well in many international competitions. However, the development of baseball in Taiwan was limited due to the lack of a professional league, and therefore many players were reluctant to commit to the sport.

The idea of forming a professional baseball league in Taiwan was first suggested and realized by local Brother Hotel

Brother Elephants

The Brother Elephants are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. It was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1989...

's chairman Hung Teng-Sheng (洪騰勝). He formed his amateur Brother Hotel baseball team in 1984, and intended to professionalize his team and form a professional league within a few years. Throughout 1988 and 1989, Hung visited numerous Taiwanese businesses, trying to convince them to form professional baseball clubs. Most of his requests were rejected, but Wei Chuan Corporation

Wei Chuan Dragons

The Wei Chuan Dragons were a professional baseball team in Taiwan's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.- Brief history :This team had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei-Chuan Food Corporation, started sponsoring Chinese Culture University's baseball team in late 1970s...

, Mercuries Chain Stores

Mercuries Tigers

The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...

, and Uni-President Corporation were supportive of his idea. The Chinese Professional Baseball League was established on October 23, 1989, with Hung Teng-sheng acting as secretary-general. Because of his contribution to baseball in Taiwan, Hung is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the CPBL."

Taiwan Major League

In 1997, the newly founded Taiwan Major League

Taiwan Major League

The Taiwan Major League was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over CPBL broadcasting rights...

presented a serious challenge to CPBL's monopoly of Taiwan's professional baseball industry. The two leagues engaged in a heated competition, and, after running at a loss, TML was finally absorbed by CPBL.

Organization

All teams are owned and named after large Taiwanese corporations, a similar pracitice seen in Japan's NPB

NPB

NPB can refer to:* NAS Parallel Benchmarks, a set of benchmarks developed by the NASA for measuring the performance of supercomputers* National Printing Bureau of Japan...

and South Korea's KBO

Korea Baseball Organization

The Korea Baseball Organization is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. KBO should not be confused with the Korea Professional Baseball League. KBO was founded in 1981 and has been governing two leagues, Korea Professional Baseball and Futures League since...

. Each team manages a regional market with a home city, but does not play its games exclusively in that market. Other than the home cities, regular season games are also held in Hsinchu

Hsinchu

Hsinchu City is a city in northern Taiwan. Hsinchu is popularly nicknamed "The Windy City" for its windy climate.Hsinchu City is administered as a special municipality within Taiwan . The city is bordered by Hsinchu County to the north and east, Miaoli County to the south, and the Taiwan Strait...

, Douliou

Douliou Baseball Stadium

Douliu Baseball Stadium is a baseball stadium in Douliu, Taiwan. It was opened in 2005 and has a capacity of 15,000 people.-External links:...

, Chiayi

Chiayi Baseball Field

Chiayi Baseball Field is a multi-use stadium in Chiayi, Taiwan. It is currently mostly used for baseball games and was ever the home stadium of Chinatrust Whales from 1998 to 2003. The stadium was originally built in 1918 during the Taiwan under Japanese rule era and has been repeatedly refurbished...

, Pingtung

Pingtung Baseball Field

Pingtung Baseball Field is a multi-use stadium in Pingtung City, Taiwan. Currently, it is mostly used for baseball games. It was opened in 1981 and can hold 10,000 people.-References:...

, Luodong

Luodong, Yilan

Luodong is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan . Its name derives from the Kavalan word rutung, meaning "monkey", referring to a large population of monkeys there half century ago...

, Hualien

Hualien Baseball Stadium

Hualien Baseball Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Hualien, Taiwan. Although it is relatively new compared to some other stadiums, its capacity and location do not allow frequent professional use, even though many baseball players came from this region....

, and Taitung

Taitung City

Taitung City is the county seat of Taitung County, Taiwan. It lies on the southeast coast of Taiwan facing the Pacific Ocean.The city is served by Taitung Airport. Taitung is a gateway to Green Island and Orchid Island, both of which are very popular among Taiwanese tourists.-History:Taitung...

with less frequency.

Each season spans from March to October, with a one-week all-star break in June or July, which separates the season into first and second half-seasons. Playoffs are held in late October or early November, with three teams competing in two rounds. A team may qualify for playoffs either by winning a half-season title, or be awarded a wild card berth by attaining the highest place in the seasonal ranks. If a team wins a half-season title, it will not be considered in the seasonal ranks when the winner of the wild card is being decided. If both half seasons were won by the same team, another wild card berth will be given through the same mechanism after the first berth has been awarded.

Due to recent reduction in the number of teams, the regulation above may be modified to better apply to the current situation.

Since 2005 the champion team will represent Taiwan in the Asia Series

Asia Series

The Asia Series is an international baseball tournament in East Asia that was first held between November 10 and November 13, 2005, in Tokyo. The tournament was sponsored by Konami corporation from 2005 to 2007 and was known as the Konami Cup in that period.It is played among the annual champions...

to compete with other champion teams from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

's professional baseball leagues.

Foreign Players

A typical monthly salary for a foreign player is in between 5,000-12,000 USD, these positions are normally filled by AA, AAA, or Japanese minor leaguers. The number of foreign players allowed on a team's roster is limited to four. Of the four players only three are allowed to be activated on the major league roster, the remaining foreign player can practice and prepare with the team or play in the minors. A foreign player, once sent to the minor league team, must wait a week before being allowed to be recalled to the major league.

Foreign players, from regions other than Japan and South Korea, are given Chinese epithets to increase familiarity with Taiwanese fans. These epithets, usually two to three characters in length, are generally loose transliterations of the players' names and are generally chosen as terms meant to convey strength or might. One example is Jeff Andra, whose epithet is Feiyong (飛勇) — meaning, literally, a flying brave man. Recently however, most foreign players are just simply given a direct Chinese transcription

Transcription (linguistics)

Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...

. Some players (mostly foreign players) have now adopted the custom in the rest of the world by placing their surnames on the back of their jerseys using the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

Current Teams

Team	Joined in	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Brother Elephants Brother Elephants The Brother Elephants are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. It was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1989...	1990	Taipei City*	Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium*	12,500
Lamigo Monkeys	2004	Taoyuan County Taoyuan County "Taoyuan County" may refer to:Taoyuan County, Taiwan, a county in northern Taiwan Province, Taoyuan County, Hunan, a county in Hunan Province,...	Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium is a multi-use stadium located in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. The stadium was opened in 2010 and has a capacity of 12,000 spectators...	12,000
Sinon Bulls Sinon Bulls Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...	1993	Taichung City	Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium is located in Taichung, the third largest city in Taiwan. The first phase of the stadium's construction is nearly complete and officially opened on November 9, 2006 replacing the antiquated Taichung Baseball Field. The construction is basically finished...	19,000
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions	1990	Tainan City	Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium	12,000

_* Brother Elephants did not reach an agreement with Taipei County government, but nonetheless play their home games in the regional market.

Defunct Teams

China Times Eagles
China Times Eagles
The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:...

(時報鷹) (1993~1997)
Mercuries Tigers
Mercuries Tigers
The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...

(三商虎) (1990~1999)
Wei Chuan Dragons
Wei Chuan Dragons
The Wei Chuan Dragons were a professional baseball team in Taiwan's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.- Brief history :This team had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei-Chuan Food Corporation, started sponsoring Chinese Culture University's baseball team in late 1970s...

(味全龍) (1990~1999)
Dmedia T-REX
Dmedia T-REX
The dmedia T-REX was a professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League .-History:The history of the team can be traced back to early 2001 when local Macoto Bank started to sponsor Taiwan Major League's Taipei Gida, taking over from the original sponsor Sampo...

(米迪亞暴龍) (2003~2008)
Chinatrust Whales
Chinatrust Whales
The Chinatrust Whales , formerly Koos Group Whales , were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Originally founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1997. It is administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding...

(中信鯨) (1997~2008)

Minor League

CPBL Minor League took shape in late 2003 as a result of cooperation with Chinese Taipei Baseball Association

Chinese Taipei Baseball Association

The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, or CTBA was established on February 28, 1973. The Chinese translation of the English name is: traditional chinese: 中華台北棒球協會, hanyu pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi bàngqiú xiéhuì...

. Alternative service

Alternative service

Alternative service is a form of national service performed in lieu of conscription for various reasons, such as conscientious objection, inadequate health, or political reasons. See "labour battalion" for examples of the latter case...

draftees, players deemed eligible to complete their national service obligation in the field of baseball, were sent to CPBL member organizations to fill their roster. There are currently four minor league teams, each plays about 80 games annually. Similar to NPB's minor leagues, the minor league teams are each owned by CPBL members as reserve teams rather than independent organizations.

Champions

As of the end of 2010 season

Team	Wins	Losses
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions	8*	4
Brother Elephants Brother Elephants The Brother Elephants are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. It was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1989...	7	2
Wei Chuan Dragons Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons were a professional baseball team in Taiwan's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.- Brief history :This team had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei-Chuan Food Corporation, started sponsoring Chinese Culture University's baseball team in late 1970s... (Defunct)	4	2
Sinon Bulls Sinon Bulls Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...	2	4
Lamigo Monkeys	1	2
Chinatrust Whales Chinatrust Whales The Chinatrust Whales , formerly Koos Group Whales , were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Originally founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1997. It is administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding... (Defunct)	0	2
Mercuries Tigers Mercuries Tigers The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:... (Defunct)	0	1
China Times Eagles China Times Eagles The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:... (Defunct)	0	1
dmedia T-REX Dmedia T-REX The dmedia T-REX was a professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League .-History:The history of the team can be traced back to early 2001 when local Macoto Bank started to sponsor Taiwan Major League's Taipei Gida, taking over from the original sponsor Sampo... (Defunct)	0	1

*Taiwan Series was not held in 1992, 1994 and 1995 because Brother Elephants and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions won the titles by virtue of winning both half-seasons, resulting in no losers in the 3 seasons' Taiwan Series.

Regular-season statistics by teams

Team	Seasons	Games played	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions	22	2174	1155	936	83	.552
Brother Elephants Brother Elephants The Brother Elephants are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. It was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1989...	22	2083	1069	1029	75	.510
Sinon Bulls Sinon Bulls Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...	16	1641	751	827	47	.476
Chinatrust Whales Chinatrust Whales The Chinatrust Whales , formerly Koos Group Whales , were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Originally founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1997. It is administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding...	12	1062	515	511	36	.502
Mercuries Tigers Mercuries Tigers The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...	10	944	414	485	45	.461
Wei Chuan Dragons Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons were a professional baseball team in Taiwan's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.- Brief history :This team had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei-Chuan Food Corporation, started sponsoring Chinese Culture University's baseball team in late 1970s...	10	943	476	432	35	.524
Lamigo Monkeys	8	862	445	394	19	.530
dmedia T-REX Dmedia T-REX The dmedia T-REX was a professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League .-History:The history of the team can be traced back to early 2001 when local Macoto Bank started to sponsor Taiwan Major League's Taipei Gida, taking over from the original sponsor Sampo...	6	598	252	326	20	.436
China Times Eagles China Times Eagles The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:...	5	476	228	237	11	.490

Awards

Most Valuable Player award

Most progress award

Main article: CPBL most progressive award (comeback player)

Controversies

Despite its young age, professional baseball in Taiwan had suffered game-fixing scandal

Scandal

A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...

s several times. These led to sharp declines in game attendance.

The August 3 Incident

The first sign of the scandals was the "August 3 Incident" when a group of weapon-carrying local gang members rushed into a Taichung

Taichung

-Demographics:Taichung’s population was an estimated 1,040,725 in August 2006. There are slightly more females in the city than males.24.32% of residents are children, while 16.63% are young people, 52.68% are middle-age, and 6.73% are elderly....

hotel and threatened five Brother Elephants players, including then star pitcher Chen Yi-Hsin (陳義信), to cooperate with them and fix games for their gambling business in the evening of August 3, 1996. CPBL reported to the police immediately and the gang members were soon arrested, but rumors abounded.

The Black Eagles Incident

The rumors came true in January 1997, just before the season started. With solid evidences, prosecutors arrested several CPBL players suspected of being in game-fixing operations. During the judicial process, more players, mostly from the China Times Eagles

China Times Eagles

The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:...

, were found involved in game-fixing and were promptly expelled by CPBL. In June 1997, only two Taiwanese players on the roster of China Times Eagles remained clean, and the other six teams had to lend their players to the Eagles for the team to finish the season.

China Times Eagles were disbanded the next year as a result, and CPBL's average attendance declined sharply, from the peak 6,000 in 1994 to merely 1,500 in 1998. However, the ordeal does not stop. In August 1997, several Mercuries Tigers

Mercuries Tigers

The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...

players were threatened under similar circumstance as the August 3 Incident. In April 1999, Wei Chuan Dragons

Wei Chuan Dragons

' then manager Hsu Sheng-ming (徐生明) was attacked near his Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

residence. Mercuries Tigers and Wei Chuan Dragons also did not survive the financial loss brought about and closed down after the 1999 season. The whole event was later nicknamed as "The Black Eagles Incident" due to the fact that the China Times Eagles was most seriously involved.

2005 Game-Fixing Scandal

In July 2005, another gambling-related scandal surfaced when local Next Magazine

Next Magazine

Next Magazine is a Chinese weekly magazine, published in Hong Kong and Taiwan with different versions. Owned by Jimmy Lai , both magazines are the number one news magazines in both markets in terms of audited circulation and AC Nielsen reports...

published a story with photographs of Chinatrust Whales

Chinatrust Whales

The Chinatrust Whales , formerly Koos Group Whales , were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Originally founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1997. It is administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding...

' Australian pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

Brad Purcell at a Taipei

Taipei

lounge bar along with several local gang members. This article further points out several suspicious games in May and June 2005, and listed nearly ten players involved, mostly foreign players.

Local prosecutor Hsu Wei-Yueh (徐維嶽) took up the case and imprisoned La New Bears

La New Bears

The Lamigo Monkeys , formerly First Financial Holdings Agan and then the La New Bears , are a professional baseball team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan...

catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

Chen Chao-Ying (陳昭穎) and Macoto Cobras coach Tsai Sheng-Fong (蔡生豐) on July 27, both of whom were immediately expelled. However, on August 22 Hsu released the two, stating that "they had made full confessions". Bradley Purcell himself had been released earlier by Chinatrust Whales and left Taiwan in advance before the judicial action started.

Hsu later summoned a total of near fifteen players, including Sinon Bulls

Sinon Bulls

Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...

American pitcher

Pitcher

Jeff Andra

Jeffrey Louis Andra is a former professional baseball pitcher.Andra attended the University of Oklahoma, where he played for the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 3rd round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft.Andra played in the Giants...

, La New Bears Puerto Rican

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

infielder

Infielder

An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.-Standard arrangement of positions:In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles...

Victor Rodriguez and Chinatrust Whales

Chinatrust Whales

Dominican

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

pitcher Emiliano Giron, and claimed they were implicated. None of them admitted to be involved but Hsu still ruled that most of them needed bail

Bail

Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

of NT$ 100,000 to be released. CPBL immediately expelled those players who needed to post bail. Only Brother Elephants and Uni-President Lions remain unaffected by this scandal.

The circumstance remains unclear, with the lack of investigative progress and indictments, and the fact that Hsu Wei-Yueh himself was later arrested for his involvement in a bribery scandals, which led to his trial and sentence in 2005.

The dmedia Incident

On October 8, 2008, Banciao district attorney's office called the owner of dmedia T-REX

Dmedia T-REX

The dmedia T-REX was a professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League .-History:The history of the team can be traced back to early 2001 when local Macoto Bank started to sponsor Taiwan Major League's Taipei Gida, taking over from the original sponsor Sampo...

Shih Chien-hsin, the team's GM, spokesperson, one coach, and three players to the office for alleged game-fixing scandal. The three players, Chen Yuen-chia (陳元甲), Chen Ke-fan (陳克帆), and Cory Bailey

Cory Bailey

Phillip Cory Bailey is a former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball between and . He batted and threw right-handed....

, were later released after posting their bails. In accordance with CPBL policy, the three were immediately expelled and they were banned from playing professionally in the league. Due to the involvement of management/operation personnel in the scandal, the team was expelled from CPBL on October 23, 2008.

Chinatrust Whales

Chinatrust Whales

also announced its disbandment on November 11, after their twelve years history in CPBL. The league now has only four teams.

2009 Game-Fixing Scandal

The day after the 2009 Taiwan Series's final game, authority raided Brother Elephants' dormitory in Taipei and ordered several players to report to the prosecutors' office for questioning regarding game-fixing allegation. In the following weeks, multiple players from Brother Elephants, Sinon Bulls, and La New Bears were questioned, and some of them were arrested and eventually charged. Furthermore, Elephants manager Shin Nakagomi

Shin Nakagomi

Sin Nakagomi, ; born February 16, 1970 in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan), is a retired Japanese professional baseball player and the former manager of Brother Elephants.-NPB:-As player:-As manager:-See also:...

was also charged and later plead guilty in exchange for being released and allowed to return to Japan. Some of the convicted players were given prison sentences ranging from one to four years.

Criticisms

The CPBL has long been criticized for lacking protection for players' rights, and players do not enjoy the benefits of a union like MLB, NPB, and KBO players. Players are often given one-year contracts that sometimes include terms that favor the management. Players do not have the freedom to join another team at the end of their contracts, since the CPBL does not have a free-agent system due to fears that teams with less financial backing could be forced out of the market. If a player wishes to join another team for any reason, he must acquire the consent of the original team or be barred from the CPBL. The restriction does not apply to players seeking to join a team in another country.

The CPBL is governed by a General Managers' Council, whose members are the general managers of each team. This is unlike professional baseball organizations in other countries, whose governing body usually consists of a committee of selected individuals unaffiliated with any member franchises. The CPBL governing structure effectively renders the league helpless in the regulation and enforcement of its policies, for it has no means to impose its rule over the member organizations. Since any reform would require a unanimous approval of the council, it is difficult to initiate reforms on a large scale.

External links

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