In 1872, an American named Horeth Wilson worked as an English teacher at Japan's "First University School" and guided students to play baseball in their spare time, which was the first person to pass the sport of baseball into Japan.

2025/04/2317:27:49 hotcomm 1830

Baseball has developed in Taiwan Province, China for more than a hundred years. During the development stage of the Japanese occupation period in Taiwan (1897-1945), baseball had a strong colonialist color; in the early post-war period (1945-1960s), people's livelihood was difficult, and watching baseball gradually developed into a part of the lives of the common people; in the 1970s, the third-level baseball rush period began; after the 1980s, the starting point began to be proud internationally; in the 1990s, the Chinese vocational school started; after 2000, the Taiwan baseball sport in China also began to face the challenges of the new century.

The origin of Taiwan baseball

872 (the fifth year of Meiji), an American named Hores Wilson went to Japan's "First University District First Middle School" (renamed Tokyo Kaicheng School two years later, and was one of the predecessors of today's University of Tokyo) to serve as an English teacher. He guided students to play baseball in his spare time, and was the first to pass baseball into Japan. In the autumn of 1894, Ma Geng, a Japanese, used the word "wild ball" for the first time to replace the original Katakana transliteration and used it in the title of the book published in 1895. Coincidentally, this year was also the first year of Taiwan's Japanese occupation period. Chinese nationalists believe that baseball is one of the measures of the royalization movement.

At the beginning of the day, society was not very stable. Most Japanese in Taiwan engage in self-defense sports such as sumo wrestling , kendo , etc. In 1897, some bank employees in Taiwan had already started playing baseball, but they were just pitching and hitting, and there was no complete equipment or offensive and defensive lineup. In March 1906, the "Taiwan Governor's Mandarin School Middle School" located in Taipei (renamed the Taiwan Governor's Mandarin School the following year, which is now Jianguo Middle School) formed a baseball team under the leadership of the principal Keiichi Tanaka, becoming the first baseball team in Taiwan's history with historical materials. Soon, another baseball team was established at the "North Korean Language School Normal School of Taiwan Governor's Office" (now Taipei University of Education) also located in Taipei. In the spring of that year, the two teams played, and the two sides tied 5-5, making it the first baseball game with an official record in Taiwan's history. Subsequently, the Chengyuan School (now Chengyuan High School), Taipei School of Technology (now Taipei University of Science and Technology ), and the Taipei Business School (now Taipei College of Business and Technology ) in Taipei also organized baseball teams one after another.

Following Taipei, Tainan became the second region in Taiwan to develop baseball. In 1910, the artillery troops stationed in Tainan and people from the Nankun each formed a team, and the first baseball game in Tainan was held that summer. By 1914, baseball also began to appear in Taichung , and the baseball team in the central branch of the Taiwan Bank held the first local baseball game with the Taichung Hall Baseball Team.
As the number of teams and the number of matches gradually increased, disputes arising from the lack of systems also increased. In 1914, Iseda, a famous baseball player from Waseda, came to Taiwan. Seeing this phenomenon, he convened a meeting of representatives of the teams in Taipei at that time, established the "Northern Baseball Association" and formulated a meeting seal, which was the earliest baseball organization in Taiwan.
Compared with western Taiwan, baseball development in the eastern region was significantly later. It was not until 1917 that employees of Taitung sugar factory formed the first team in the eastern part of the "Sugar Factory Team". Then, teams such as the "garrison team" composed of local soldiers and the "Taitung Hall Team" composed of government employees of Taitung Hall were released one after another. Since then, there have been records of baseball team establishment in other parts of Taiwan.
External communication
As Taiwan's baseball sports are becoming more and more popular, Japanese local teams have begun to rise to a wave of friendly matches coming to Taiwan. At the end of 1917, the Japanese Waseda University baseball team was the first to visit, holding eight games in total, with a record of seven wins and one loss. In Waseda's match against Taipei team, there are an average of thousands of spectators entering each game, setting off the earliest "beast ball fever climax". In 1918, Japan's University of Law and Political Science was also invited to Taiwan, with a total of six games, with a record of five wins and one loss.In the 1920s and 1930s, teams such as Keiyo University , Kyoto Imperial University , and Lijiao University came to Taiwan, allowing Taiwanese people to appreciate their superb skills and are of great help to promote baseball.
920, a Major League Baseball player, Herb Hante, led a baseball team composed of major league bench players and minor league players to Taiwan to visit the game. In the first game, he defeated Taiwan United by a huge difference of 26-0, and also won a great victory in the next six games, allowing Taiwanese fans to see the power of American power baseball for the first time.
team baseball team
In the first ten years when baseball was introduced to Taiwan, although it developed rapidly, all the Japanese came to Taiwan, and the Taiwanese with the majority population had no record of participating. According to the book "History of Taiwan's Balance Ball", the earliest documentary records of Taiwanese playing baseball were Li and Lin from the baseball team of the "Taiwan Governor's Office Medical College" (now the School of Medicine of Taiwan University) in 1919.
Just as Taiwanese locals were gradually touching baseball, a new force was emerging in Hualien far east. In 1921, Lin Guixing, a baseball enthusiast living on Hualien Harbor Street (now Hualien City ), summoned nearby Aboriginal teenagers to form a "Takasa Baseball Team", often held competitions with local Japanese at the "Hanokayama Baseball Stadium" and gradually became famous.
At that time, the chairman of the two construction factories, Atsushi Group and Sakura Group, which contracted the three projects of Hualien Port , Eastern Railway and Linhai Road, came to the Hualien Port Department Ryosaburo, hoping to educate the indigenous people with baseball. In March 1923, they brought this group of players into the newly established "Hualian Port Agricultural Tutorial School" (now Hualien Gaonong), and renamed the team as "Nenggao Group" with the Nenggao Mountain at an altitude of 3,262 meters.
In September 1924, the Nenggao Group expeditioned to the west. They competed with local teams in Keelung , Taipei, Hsinchu , Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung , and Pingtung. Except for Taipei lost in one game against Tainan in three games, the other five games won. Every game of the expedition to the west can attract many people to watch. During the first match between Taipei Gaoshang on September 21, there were as many as 7,000 fans on the spot. The players of the NGG Group have repeatedly shown the unique explosive power of the indigenous people in shooting, playing and running, which impressed the audience.
Because the expedition to the west was extremely successful, the official arranged for the Nenggao Group to compete in Japan in July the following year. During the two-month travel competition, Nogao Group competed with local university teams in Tokyo, Yokohama , Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka , and Hiroshima . The total record was three wins, four losses and one draw. Although it was not particularly outstanding, it was enough to prove that the indigenous people could also be on the same level as the Japanese on the court.
The excellent physical condition and strong fighting spirit of the group players have aroused great interest in Heian Middle School in Kyoto, Japan. Shortly after the team returned to Taiwan, they sent people to poach and were joined by four players: Azen (later renamed Inada Teruo), Luo Daohou (later renamed Iten Jiro), Rosaweili (later renamed Iten Masao), and Kisa (later renamed Nishimura Kazuo). In 1927 and 1928, Ping'an Middle School entered the Jiaziyuan Competition twice, and these four players were the main players.
Among them, the pitcher Luo Houdao entered Fa Zheng University to continue playing baseball, and later joined the Japanese Professional Baseball and became the first Taiwanese player to play the Japanese Professional Baseball. Later, Ye Tian, a post-subscription player who was able to play in the high-end group, was sent to Ping'an Middle School to play, and later joined the Japanese Professional Baseball Team.
Kasuyuan
Japan National Higher Education College Ball Player Rights Conference is a national college baseball competition initiated by Asaka Shimbun in 1915 (Taisho Four Years). It was held in Osaka Prefecture , Hyogo Prefecture and other places. In 1924, it was moved to the newly built Kaziyuan Stadium in Nishimiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. Since then, "Kasiyuan" has become synonymous with wild balls in Japanese universities.Because it is held in summer, it is also called the "Summer Jiaziyuan" conference.
Taiwan has selected the delegation team to participate in the ninth summer Jiaziyuan Conference in 1923, until the 26th chapter in 1940. Among them, Taipei No. 1 Middle School reached the semi-finals in Chapter 15 (1929) and Chiayi Agricultural and Forestry Baseball Team won the runner-up in Chapter 17 (1931), which was the best result of the Taiwanese team in Jiaziyuan. In addition to Taipei No. 1 Middle School and Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry, Taipei Business, Taipei Industry, and Chiayi Middle School (now Chiayi High School) also represented Taiwan in the summer Jiaziyuan. The number of times the representative rights was obtained was 5 times for Taipei No. 1 Middle School, 4 times for Taipei Business, Taipei Industry, Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry, and 3 times for Chiayi Middle School. The wild ball conference for selecting higher education institutions was a competition initiated by the Daily News Agency in 1924. Because it was held in spring, it is also known as the "Spring Jiaziyuan" conference. Unlike Xiazi Jiaziyuan, the participating teams are selected and invited by the organizer, rather than selected competitions in various regions.
Taiwan team has been invited to participate in the Spring Jiaziyuan Conference three times, including Taipei No. 1 Middle School in the seventh chapter (1930) and the tenth chapter (1933) and Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry in the twelfth chapter (1935).
Tianxia Jianong
"Taiwan Governor's Office Chiayi Agricultural and Forestry School" was founded in April 1919 and was renamed "Tainan State Chiayi Agricultural and Forestry School". The baseball team was established in 1928. There was no professional coach in the early days, and there was no outstanding performance. It was not until Kondo Hitotaro, who was the head coach of the baseball department of the famous Kokoyuan school, came to serve as the coach that he began to show his talents.
931, the Jianong baseball team, who participated in Taipei for the first time, won the Taiwan university baseball championship and won the representative of the 17th Summer Jiaziyuan Conference in Japan, breaking the tradition of monopolizing by northern teams in the past twelve years, and "the championship banner is nothing but the turbid water stream".
Kanon's first round of the game in Kaziyuan; in the second round of the game on August 15, Kanoon, who was originally unpopular, defeated Kanagawa Commercial Industry three to zero; in the quarterfinals on the 18th, he won 19 to 7 in the Sapporo Business from Hokkaido , shocking all of Japan. In the semi-finals on the 20th, Karenon defeated Okura Industry from Kitakyushu with another 10-2, becoming the first team in Taiwan to enter the finals.
In the final on August 21, the Ganon pitcher Wu Mingjie, who shot four consecutive games, endured his tired body and his skin-wrunk fingers had long been out of control. In the end, the team lost to the "Zhongjing Business" from Aichi Prefecture by zero to four and ranked second, but it has won the reputation of "Jianonan in the World" and has also started the glorious years of the "Jianonan Baseball Team".
Afterwards, the Jianong Baseball team entered the Summer Jiaziyuan Conference three times in 1933, 1935 and 1936; in addition, it also entered the Spring Jiaziyuan Conference in 1935.
During this period, in addition to Wu Mingjie, Jianong also trained many excellent baseball players, including Chen Gengyuan , Su Zhengsheng , Wu Changzheng , Luo Baonong and Lan Mingde and others. Among them, Wu Changzheng, who represented Kanoon at the Summer Jiaziyuan Conference in 1933, joined the Japanese Professional Baseball Giants after graduation in 1937, and later played against Hanshin and Daily Teams. During his 20-year career at the Japanese Professional Baseball Base, Wu Changzheng has won the attack king, the thief king, and the MVP, and has also shot no-hit games. He enjoyed the nickname of "the human system car". After his death, he was elected to enter the wild ball hall in 1995.
Transformation after the war
Social group team development
From 1945 to the 1960s, baseball was very enthusiastic, and "sniffing wild balls" ( Taiwanese , "sniffing enough to watch baseball") became a part of people's lives.
Minsheng Cup Baseball Tournament is one of the early baseball games held regularly in Taiwan's baseball history. It was mainly promoted by Taichung's Minsheng Daily. The first session started from May 22 to 27, 1951 at the Taichung Water Source Baseball Stadium (now Taichung Baseball Stadium). A total of 21 teams from all over Taiwan participated.Since then, it has been held in May every year, with more than twenty sessions held in total. In addition to hosting the Minsheng Cup baseball game for more than 20 years, Minsheng Daily also sent people to Japan through connections to invite the Giants to Taichung for training. Teams from all over the province also took this opportunity to observe on the sidelines, which can be said to bring Taiwanese baseball to another situation. In 1967, the Taitung Hongye Young Baseball Team was invited to Taichung to compete and held a large-scale Young Baseball Team, which had some indirect impact on the composition and winning the Taichung Golden Dragon Young Baseball Team in 1969.
During this period, in addition to the Minsheng Cup baseball game, there will be more important baseball games: National Games, Provincial Games Baseball Games, Taipei Mayor's Cup Soft Baseball Game, Taipei Banking Guild Baseball Game, Provincial "Huayin Golden Award Baseball Game", Provincial "Association Cup" and "Golden Trophy" Baseball Game, and Provincial "Chairman Cup" Baseball Game.
During this period, many baseball teams were established, such as: Carboniferous team, Taiwan Electric Power Team, Heku Baseball Team, Sugar Factory Baseball Team, Railway Bureau Baseball Team, Taiwan Provincial Tobacco and Alcohol Public Sales Bureau Baseball Team, Daliang Team, Tianxiangweibao Team, and Sanjun Baseball Team.
Therefore, during this period, the mainstream was amateur baseball sport formed by various private institutions, and the players were also composed of employees who were interested in baseball in various institutions.
The development of student baseball
The earliest to resume secondary school baseball competition was Taipei. The first middle school baseball competition held in 1948 was divided into junior high school and high school groups, with a total of 13 teams participating; subsequently, middle school baseball competitions were held in various places. The first provincial middle school baseball competition was held until 1950, with 13 teams in the junior high school group and 19 teams in the high school group. The main high school teams at that time were Kainan Business and Industry, Kaohsiung Middle School, Nanying Business and Industry, Kaohsiung Business and Industry, Jianguo Middle School, and Taitung Agricultural School, which later joined the battle.
In terms of youth baseball, Taipei City and Tainan City held the first school children's baseball tournament in 1948; the following year, Taichung City and Taitung County also followed, and other counties and cities subsequently held school children's baseball tournaments one after another.
At that time, the baseball sport in Taipei City continued the Japanese occupation period and had the largest number of school-child baseball teams. Taking the first schoolchild baseball tournament as an example, among the twenty-five national schools in the city, except for the Penglai National School, which only accepts girls, the other twenty-four national schools formed teams to participate.
In the first provincial junior baseball competition held in 1948, the Taipei City team, mainly players of Dongyuan National School, won the championship. In the next five competitions, Taipei City took over three championships, and its results were outstanding in Taiwan. Later, the school-enhancing ideology became increasingly serious, and Taipei City, the best district, suffered the most. The number of schools that formed teams to compete decreased year by year, and then there were only single digits left. Therefore, the counties and cities in the central and southern regions took advantage of the situation to surpass them.
Red Leaf Legend
Red Leaf Young Master Team is a baseball team established by the Hongye Primary School in Yanping Township, Taitung County. On August 25, 1968, he defeated the "Japanese Young Baseball Star Team" selected by Kansai, Japan, with a huge difference of 7 to 0, which led to Taiwan forming the Golden Dragon Young Baseball Team the following year to enter the World Young Baseball Competition in William Porter, Pennsylvania, USA, and thus opening the third-level baseball era in Taiwan's baseball history.
However, on June 17 of that year, the team was reported to have been reported since April 1967, and has repeatedly signed up for junior baseball games as an impostor of overage school children. In 1969, Hu Xueli, deputy leader of the Red Leaf Young Base Team, coach Qiu Qingcheng, and Zeng Zhendong were sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation for forging official documents and exercising forgery of official documents, leaving a record of unreputable status for the history of the Red Leaf Young Base Team.
Because Hongye Primary School is located in a remote mountainous area, the number of students is less than 100, and it is difficult for the baseball team to form a military force. In order to allow young players to participate in the competition, the school had to find graduates who had not yet entered the school and stayed in the village to assist the farming department to continue playing.Although the illegal acts are not worthy, their motivation is to participate in sports and strive for honor; at the same time, due to the good performance of the Red Leafs, Taiwan has set off a craze for youth baseball, which was widely sympathized by all walks of life at that time.
Storm period
Golden Dragon Yangwei
Just 2The day before the Red Leaf Young Baseball Team defeated the Japanese Little Baseball Star Team selected by Kansai for the first time, Wakayama Young Baseball Team, which is also from Kansai, Japan, but is just a local team, just won the World Little Baseball Championship in William Porter, Pennsylvania, USA. This news greatly inspired the Taiwanese baseball community. In April 1969, the National Baseball Committee of China decided to select a Chinese Youth Baseball Star Team in late July to participate in the Pacific League Representative Championship of the World Little League.
On June 8, the National Baseball Committee of China selected 14 players, including 4 in Chiayi Datong, 2 in Tainan Liren, 1 in Tainan Yujing, Taipei Laosong, Chiayi Boai, Taichung Datong, Taichung Zhongxiao, Tainan Yongfu, Taitung Xinsheng, Taitung Hongye and other teams each accounted for 1 in each.
From July 26 to 28, the Pacific Region Representative Competition was held in Tokyo, Japan. The Chinese Young Baseball Team first defeated the Guam team 16:0, and then defeated the Japanese team (West Tokyo team) 3A:0, winning the right to participate in the World Young Baseball Championship.
Since the National Baseball Committee of China is the first time to send a team to participate in a competition hosted by the American Youth Baseball League (civilized as the World Little League), it is not clear that the league's chapter stipulates that any team participating in the World Championships and the representative competitions of each district cannot be a star player from the region or country. The Japanese Youth Baseball League, which hosts the Pacific Region Representative Championship, explained the whole story to the Chinese team leader Xie Guocheng and suggested changing the name to a local team. Since all the players' academic records were sent to Zhongxiao Guomin Primary School in Taichung City during the training camp, they were officially renamed "Taichung Golden Dragon Team of the Republic of China".
August 20th to 22nd, the 23rd World Little League was held in William Port, Pennsylvania, USA. Taichung Golden Dragon Young Baseball Team won 5-0 in the first match against the Canadian team, and defeated North America and North America and 4A:3 in the second game, and 5A:0 in the final to win the championship. The competition was originally educational than competitive, but for Taiwan, it was the first "world champion" in history. Not only was the encouragement of the Taiwan clubhouse, but it also had a great incentive effect on the morale of the people under the adverse impact of the external international situation. It turned out that it was not impossible to defeat Japan and the United States. The players of
later collectively entered Taipei Huaxing Middle School and continued to play the Youth League and Youth League. Among them, Guo Yuanzhi, who served as the second pitcher, played , Fu Jen University, and the Army Baseball Team after graduation. He joined the Japanese Professional Baseball Team in 1981. He is the fifth player to reach the "Yuan Win Hundred Rescue" record in the history of Japanese Professional Baseball.
Seven Tiger Dreams Broken
970, in order to avoid the national star teams falling into a large population, the Baseball Association divided Taiwan into four regions: North, Central, South and East. Each region selected star teams to participate in the national selection competition, and the winning team represented the country in the competition abroad.
In the most competitive seven counties and cities selection competition in the southern region, the Chiayi County United team won the championship, and the southern region star team was named "Chiayi Seven Tigers". In addition to the players from primary schools such as Chu Yang, Datong, Xuanxin, and Chongwen in Chiayi County, there are also outstanding players from primary schools such as Tainan Municipal Ren, Jinxue, Yongfu, Kaohsiung City Qijin and Kaohsiung County Qishan.
In the Taiwan regional trials, the Seven Tigers Young Baseball Team, which has players such as Lin Huawei, Lu Ruitu, and Su Fengyuan, defeated the Golden Dragon Young Baseball Team (second generation) with players such as Yang Qinglong and Jiang Zhonghao , and won the Taiwan regional junior baseball championship. In late July of the same year, the Seven Tigers participated in the Far East Little League Championship, defeated the Philippines and Japan and won the Far East representative, and once again entered William Porter's World Little League.In the World Little League in August, the Seven Tigers unfortunately lost to Nicaragua in the first game and were isolated from the championship, and finally finished fifth.
Seven Tigers Young Baseball Team was unable to enter Taipei Huaxing Middle School without winning the world championship. Later, it was absorbed by Pingtung Meihe Middle School. Since then, it has started a long-term confrontation between the Youth League and even the Youth League "South American and North Huaxing".
Giant Glory
971, the Baseball Association added the Taiwan representative team from four teams to eight teams, including two teams in the North, Central and South regions, and one team in the East region and Kinmen. The representative teams in each region are still selected by star teams.
The strongest southern region's seven counties and cities won by Tainan City, forming the No. 1 star team in the southern region named "Tainan Giant". The team has players such as Xu Jinmu, Tu Zhongnan, Li Juming , Xu Shengming , and Ye Zhixian. In the national trials, the Giants defeated Taichung Golden Dragon (third generation) to win the championship and gained the right to represent the Taiwan region.
971's Far East Little League was held in Taiwan for the first time. The Giants' Taipei Baseball Stadium beat the Philippines and Japan in a row, and won the Far East representative of the World Little League. On
August 24-28, the 25th World Little League was held in William Port, Pennsylvania, USA. The Tainan Giants Little League team won 7-0 in its first match for Puerto Rico in the Latin American region, and then won 11-0 in the second game. The final opponent was Gary City, Indiana, who represented the North American District. There was a good shot in Loyd McClendon. He had scored no-hit games in the twelve trials in the North American District and even swung six home runs.
Giants pitcher Xu Jinmu deliberately threw a bad ball to McLinden when two teams of North America came on the base in one inning, but unexpectedly he hit a home run and fell into a tough battle. In the next innings, as soon as McLinden came on the field, the Giants catcher "stayed away" from the home plate, allowing Xu Jinmu to shoot a super safe four bad balls to walk, so as not to accidentally get him hit another home run. As a result, such tactics aroused dissatisfaction among American audiences at the scene and they all responded. In terms of offense, the Giants struggled to catch up, tied with their opponents 3:3 at the end of the six innings before they could enter the playoffs.
In the nine innings, the North American team's catcher could no longer catch McLinden's strong fast balls, and four bad balls frequently took the lead. Even if he changed to , the catcher was still unable to stop, causing the Giants to score continuously. In extreme disappointment, the young man McLinden burst into tears on the spot and could no longer vote. The pitcher replaced by North America is far inferior to McLinden, and he can't suppress the Giants' firepower at all. The Giants won 12:3 in the end game and regained the lost world championship for Taiwan with "extremely difficult" . And the tragic hero scene of McClendon will always remain in the hearts of that generation of Taiwanese fans.
The era of the triple crown
After that, Taiwan has long dominated the World Little Baseball Competition. From 1969 to 1996, Taiwan's Little Baseball Team won a total of 17 championship titles except for the "retreatment" of the American Little Baseball League in 1975.
972, the Golden Dragon Young Baseball Team's players of the same period were promoted to the third grade of the National Middle School. The Baseball Association took advantage of this popularity and applied to participate in the World Youth Baseball Competition held in Gary City, Indiana, USA. The first team to represent Taiwan is the "Meihe Middle School Youth Baseball Team" composed of players from Pingtung County Meihe Middle School, and is accused of experts from seven counties and cities in the south. Except for their narrow victory over the Eastern Conference team in the first game, they won the other three games with huge numbers and successfully won the championship.
The second year was replaced by Taipei Huaxing Middle School to obtain the right to represent the company and also won the championship. Since then, until the last World Youth League World Youth League competition in 1996, Taiwan won a total of 17 championships in the 25th session, of which he won consecutive championships in the first nine years.
In terms of youth base, the Baseball Association began to select teams to participate in the World Youth Baseball Competition held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1974. The team at that time was a star team selected from the province and won the championship for the first time. That year, Taiwan’s Shaobang and Youth League also won the World Championships hosted by the World Shaobang League, achieving an unprecedented "triple crown".
Since then, the Youth Baseball Team has won more than lose. Until 1996, Taiwan has won a total of 17 championships in the 23rd session, including two consecutive five years of winning.
As for the title of the Triple Crown champion, in addition to 1974, they also achieved the same results in 1977, 1978, 1988, 1990 and 1991. However, Taiwan's third-level baseball has always used schools as team units, which is inconsistent with the regulations of the American Youth Baseball League, and is therefore questioned. Since 1997, Taiwan has stopped participating in various events hosted by the league.
Reflection under the rushing
In order to compete for the dazzling halo of the "triple crown", teams at all levels inevitably tried their best, but they also produced many bizarre phenomena, which are worthy of people's reflection.
First, the unhealthy trend of "poaching" is prevalent, and the excessive concentration of outstanding players after poaching makes a few teams with super strength often kill their opponents and lose the essence of the competition; second, the frequent occurrence of "legal over-age" situations, resulting in "a bad time when I was young"; third, the "supervisor" excessively interferes in the operation of the team, and even competes with the school, causing strange phenomena of "double package" teams; fourth, the rise of gambling trends has led to frequent violent incidents on the court.
So some "decently run" schools disbanded their teams, which was one of the reasons for the rapid decline of the number of grassroots teams in the 1980s.
As for the Taiwan Third-level Ball Race during this period, it is undoubtedly crazy and deformed. It is not just a simple movement, but a social phenomenon and a catharsis of national emotions. But it is undeniable that under the training of third-level baseball, many outstanding players have been created, laying a solid foundation for Taiwan to compete with others on the world stage.
dominant period
8 The leading bar before the 1980s
China's leading bar team has never been absent from this competition since the start of the 1954 Asian Baseball Championship (hereinafter referred to as the Asian Championship). Until the 11th Asian Championships in 1975, it only won two runner-ups and six third-place finishes, far inferior to the Japanese team with 7 championships and 4 Asian teams and the 3 championships and 5 Asian teams with 2 seasons.
In terms of the global World Baseball Championship (now renamed the World Cup), Chinese Taipei Team started to participate in the 20th session in 1972, and to the 24th session in 1976, the best ranking was only fifth in the 22nd session in 1973, and the results were not ideal. In another global Intercontinental Cup baseball match, the Chinese team started participating in the first match in 1973 and participated in the third match in 1977, and won the seventh place both times, which is nothing to imitate.
Since 1976, Taiwan’s baseball ecology has undergone major changes. The first generation of Golden Dragon Young Baseball players have graduated from high school and have entered college as a "sports recommended student" in accordance with the policies of the Ministry of Education, injecting new vitality into the college baseball community. Among the 20 members of the national baseball team participating in the World Championships this year, as many as 11 are junior college students, breaking the previous convention that the national team was mainly composed of corporate team members. It is also worth noting that most of these student players are from third-level baseball and have solid technical foundations, but they are still young and have not yet fully utilized their strength.
In the late 1970s, due to membership issues, the Chinese Taipei team was not only unable to participate in the World Championships and Intercontinental Cup, but also the Asian Championships were affected and suspended. During this period, Taiwan's battalion lost the stage of international competitions, which can be said to be the darkest era.
World Stage
The 27th World Championships in September 1982 were the first game for the Chinese Taipei team to return to the international stage. In order to fire this important first shot, Yan Xiaozhang, chairman of the Taiwan Baseball Association, promoted an extremely rigorous selection system and pre-match training. The results of the game live up to expectations, and won the best fourth place in the history of the competition with a total score of six wins and three losses, second only to traditional baseball powerhouses South Korea, Japan and the United States.
In the 6th Intercontinental Cup in July 1983, the Chinese Taipei team defeated the super strong team Cuba 1 1, shocking the world's best. Although he lost to the United States one-to-two in the semi-finals and ranked third, it is already the best result since participating in the event.
The first Asian champion
The 12th Asian Championships in September of the same year was also a battle for the representation of the 984 Los Angeles Olympics Asian region. Although the South Korean team won the championship at the 27th World Championships the previous year and automatically won the Olympics right, in order to compete for the honor of "Asia No. 1" after the suspension of the Asian Championships for many years, it still sent a luxurious lineup led by "national treasure" Sun Tonglie.
result Chinese Taipei team played to the eleventh game of the playoffs in the last game and defeated the South Korean team three-to-two. Since the two round-robin teams have five wins and two losses, they are tied for champions according to the conference regulations. After 30 minutes of rest, the Chinese team immediately faced the Japanese team, which was waiting for help, to decide on the Olympic representative power. The famous pitcher Guo Taiyuan , who had already scored eight innings in the previous game, once again played as the starter.
In this game, both sides performed a wonderful pitcher battle, suppressing each other's strike group. In the second half of the ninth inning, the Japanese team missed a key goal in the second round, causing the Japanese team to lose to the first baseman Zhao Shiqiang, who swung the "goodbye home run" in the left field, allowing the Chinese team to defeat the Japanese team one-to-zero. In this competition, the Chinese Taipei team not only won the first Asian championship, but also successfully won the first Olympic Games right, which can be said to be the greatest achievement in history.
entered the Los Angeles Olympics
984 baseball match of the Los Angeles Olympics was just an exhibition match, and the teams attending the meeting still went their best. As Cuba participated in the boycott led by the Soviet Union, the Japanese team, which had previously lost the competition for representation in Asia, was lucky to be able to participate in the competition as a replacement.
Chinese Taipei team sent the best team at that time with famous players such as Guo Taiyuan, Zhuang Shengxiong, Jiang Taiquan , Zhao Shiqiang, and Li Juming. They first lost to the United States team one-to-two in the group stage, and then defeated Italy and Dominican teams respectively, and advanced with the second place in the group.
Chinese Taipei team met the Japanese team in the semi-finals, and tied one-to-one in the regular season. It was extended to the tenth game and was defeated by the Japanese team. The Chinese Taipei team faced the South Korean team in the bronze medal match. The pitchers on both sides performed wonderfully. After fourteen games, the Chinese team won three to zero.
ranked among the top five in the world
October 1984 World Championships were held in Cuba. The Chinese Taipei team first advanced to the quarterfinals with two wins and three losses in the group preliminaries, and then won the best runner-up in history with five wins and two losses. What is more worth mentioning is that the Chinese Taipei team actually defeated this super strong team seven to four at the doorstep of Cuba, which was beyond the expectations of the landlord fans.
Then, in the 1986 and 1988 World Championships, the Chinese Taipei team won the third place twice. In the Intercontinental Cup, the Chinese Taipei team won fourth place twice in 1985 and 1987, and fifth in 1989. Due to its excellent and stable record, it is ranked among the top five world amateur baseball players, along with Cuba, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Players outflow
Although the Chinese Taipei team has achieved great results in international competitions, its way out to become a baseball player is not ideal.Players who have served in the military can only go to public-owned teams such as Heku, China National Petroleum Corporation, and TaiPhone. Although the benefits are good and the job is stable, their salary is not high, and they have to take exams to get promotion, which has troubled the players. Therefore, going abroad to play professional baseball has become the goal of many players.
In fact, during the Japanese occupation period, players such as Luo Daohou, Xue Yongshun, Wu Changzheng, Ye Tianshuang, Wu Xinxiang joined the Japanese professional baseball team. After the war, due to military service and general environmental problems, baseball players' overseas development has been paused for more than 30 years.
In 1974, Tan Xinmin, a famous pitcher who won the strikeout and Best Pitcher Award in the 20th (1972) World Baseball Championship, retired from the Air Force and signed a contract with the Japanese professional baseball Pacific Club Lions (the predecessor of the Seibu Lions). He was sent to the minor league team for training as a "graduate student" and became the first player in the history of Taiwanese baseball to play in the American professional baseball team.
Since the 1980s, players from the third-level baseball industry have become adults and have become the target of US and Japanese professional baseball scouts. Among them, the famous pitcher Li Zongyuan was exempted from military service for some reason and was able to join the Second Army of the Rhode Orion Stars as a trainee in 1979, becoming the first player to play in the Japanese professional baseball team after the war and the first foreign player to be a third-level baseball player.
Since then, players who have entered the Japanese professional baseball team have been like cross-river, including Gao Yingjie, Li Laifa (all South China Sea Eagles), Guo Yuanzhi (China and Japan Dragon Team), Guo Taiyuan (Seibu Lion Team), Zhuang Shengxiong (Rod Orion Star Team), Lu Mingci (Yomiuri Giants), Chen Yixin (China and Japan Dragon Team), Guo Jiancheng (Yaola Swallow Team) and other famous players. There are more players who play Japanese amateurs, including Liu Qiunong, Lin Huawei, Huang Guangqi, Lin Zhongqiu, Zhao Shiqiang, Lin Yizeng, Yang Jieren, Huang Pingyang, Kang Mingshan, etc. The more special thing is Xu Shengming, who chose to go to Korea to play amateurs.
Among them, Guo Yuanzhi played for the Chinese and Japanese Dragon team for 16 seasons, and won 106 wins, 106 losses and 116 rescues. He is the fifth person to reach the "Honey Hundred Rescue" record in the history of the Japanese professional baseball team. Guo Taiyuan has won 117 wins, 68 losses and 18 rescue success in his twelve seasons with the Seibu Lions. He was also selected as the Pacific League annual MVP in 1991 and won the 1991 and 1992 pitcher Golden Glove Awards. He is known as the "Taiwan Hero" who created the "Seibu Dynasty". Zhuang Shengxiong won 70 wins, 83 losses and 33 rescue successes in 11 seasons with the Rhodes (first army). He was selected for the Star Game and set a Pacific League record of ten consecutive rescue points in 1986. The excellent performance of the three players is collectively called "two Guo and one Zhuang" by Taiwanese fans.
Professional period
Established Professional Baseball
On March 17, 1990, under the leadership of Hong Tengsheng, Chairman of Brothers Hotel, the "China Professional Baseball League", making Taipei, China the third region in Asia to officially establish professional baseball after Japan and South Korea. Since then, Taiwan’s baseball has entered another new stage of diversified development.
The first professional baseball game started at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium, with the brothers Elephant team playing against the Unified Lions Team. As a result, the Lions defeated the Elephant team and won the first victory in Taiwan's professional baseball history. Unified Lions pitcher Du Fuming was the first pitcher to win. In another game that day, the San Shang Tigers pitcher Tu Hongqin defeated the Wei Quanlong team and became the first pitcher to write the victory.
During the years of professionalization of baseball in Taiwan, Taiwan’s baseball has shown a prosperous scene. The treatment of players has improved. With the worries of life, they have a stronger willingness to fight on the court, so the game is more exciting. A large number of fans flocked to the stadium to watch the game, and the news media also reported significantly, which improved the social status of the players and became the object of admiration by young friends, thus setting off an unprecedented baseball craze.
Olympic silver medal
992 Barcelona Olympics, baseball was listed as an official competition for the first time. With top players joining the China Professional Baseball League, the Chinese Taipei team of this year can be said to be the weakest national team in the past decade to return to the international baseball world.However, with the soldiers' lives, their achievements are the most brilliant.
Chinese Taipei team advanced with five wins and two losses in the preliminary round. When they faced Japan in the semi-finals, they won five-to-two and won the first Olympic final in history. Although the final was defeated by the Cuban team 11-1, they still won the silver medal. This is another silver medal won by Taiwan, China after "Asian Iron Man" Yang Chuanguang won the ten-sport silver medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Professional Baseball Scandal
In June 1996, the Chinese Taipei team began to spread rumors that players were suspected of signing gambling and playing counterfeit balls. Later, five professional baseball players were intercepted by underworld elements. The storm gradually expanded, and the procuratorial and investigation units also began to investigate. Since January 1997, players involved in the case have been taken into custody one after another. On May 22, the "Taipei District Prosecutor's Office" formally prosecuted thirteen players on suspicion of fraud, treason and gambling, and several other players and staff were subsequently prosecuted. On September 10, the Taipei District Court announced a verdict that 34 of the 36 people who were sued for the case were found guilty. Although all the sentenced persons filed an appeal, the damage to the professional baseball environment has been caused. On September 15, 1998, the Times Eagles, who had the most players involved in the case and were the most hit, announced their dissolution.
During this period, many fans believed they were deceived and stayed away from the stadium, causing a sharp decline in the number of spectators in the game, and the financial situation of each group also caused a crisis. Although the establishment of a new professional baseball organization, the Taiwan Major League was only a short-term boom. In the case where the overall market does not rise but falls, the two leagues can only fall into vicious competition. Not only does the team have difficulty in operating, but it also seriously affects the normal development of the baseball ecology, causing the Taiwan Professional Baseball to enter an unprecedented dark period.
is unbearable for long-term losses, on November 8, 1999, the Three Shang Tigers announced their disbandment. Just one month later, on December 13, the Weiquanlong team also announced its disbandment.
International Tournament Open Professional Players
On September 21, 1996, in order to respond to the pressure of the then International Olympic President Samaranch: "I hope to see top players participate in the Olympics", the International Baseball Association held a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. With the absolute advantage of 56 votes in favor, seven votes against and two abstentions, they agreed to open professional baseball players to participate in international events.
This change is like dropping a bombshell to the international club ecology, and the Cuban team is the most affected. In the past, Cuba relied on players who received highly professional training to play amateur baseball, so he could easily defeat amateur players from the United States, Japan and South Korea, and thus dominate the international baseball world. Once the United States, Japan and South Korea send professional players, they will not get any advantage if they fight head-on.
And although the Chinese Taipei team can also send professional players, the establishment of the professional baseball team is too short, and its average strength is far less than that of the United States, Japan and South Korea, and it is not as easy to play against amateurs. Unfortunately, I was hit by a player signing gambling incident. This change is really worse.
th century challenge
challenge major leagues
Guo Hongzhi made his first appearance in Major League Baseball on September 2, 2005. He is also the fourth baseball player in Taiwan to make a home run in Major League Baseball, and the first Taiwanese player to be selected for the Major League Star Game.
Although the size and salary of the Major League Baseball League are unparalleled, since Tan Xinmin went to play a short minor league game as a graduate student in Japan in 1974, no Taiwanese players have been interested in it; in contrast, there are endless players going to Japan and South Korea. The reason is that in addition to geographical factors, cultural barriers, and military service issues, the minor league systems of the American Professional Baseball League as many as 4th level or above are often prohibitive.
However, the major leagues are the palace of the baseball world after all, and there will always be people pursuing their dreams without regrets.
In January 1999, Chen Jinfeng joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as a bachelor.First he trained in the San Bernardino Race team at the advanced level of the minor leagues, promoted to the 2A San Antonio Church team in 2000, first downgraded to the 1A Vero Beach Dodgers in 2001, then upgraded to the 2A Jacksonville Suns in 2002, and promoted to the 3A Las Vegas District 51 team.
On September 14, 2002, Chen Jinfeng finally played on behalf of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Major League and became the first player in Taiwan to enter the Major League. However, he did not perform particularly outstandingly later and could only hang out between the Major League and the 3A-level teams.
Then Cao Jinhui, Wang Jianmin, Guo Hongzhi, Hu Jinlong and Ni Fude also appeared in the major leagues.
hosted the World Cup
In November 2001, the 34th World Cup Baseball Tournament started at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, which is the first world baseball competition hosted by Taiwan. In the group preliminaries, the Chinese Taipei team won six wins and one loss, and advanced to the first place in the group. The Chinese Taipei team then defeated the Netherlands two-to-one in the quarterfinals, but lost to the United States one-to-four in the semi-finals, and defeated the Japanese team three-to-zero in the finals, winning the third place at its own stadium.
Local fans responded enthusiastically in this competition. The group preliminaries once had a record of 23,000 spectators in a single game at Chengqinghu Baseball Stadium, showing that the confidence of Taiwanese people in baseball has slightly rebounded. The originally unknown pitcher Zhang Zhijia defeated two powerful opponents in Japan and South Korea in this game, and became a hit and became an idol of the people. Driven by the World Cup baseball game, the box office of the "Chinese Professional Baseball Baseball", which was selected for more "national players", showed a recovery in the box office, while the Taiwan Major League has declined a lot, and the victory and defeat between the two leagues has become obvious. Through coordination between the Sports Committee and the field of the field, on January 13, 2003, under the witness of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, eight teams in the two leagues merged into six teams in a single league and named "China Professional Baseball Major League".
Return to the Olympics
At the end of October 2003, the 22nd Asian Championships were held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It has the function of an extra-season competition for the Athens Olympic Baseball event, so it has attracted much attention. The Chinese Taipei team has missed the Olympics for two consecutive times, and is under pressure to lose.
Chinese Taipei team faced its key opponent South Korea in the first game. After ten hard battles, they won five to four. Although he lost to the famous pitcher Daisuke Matsusaka to lead the second day by zero to nine, and had Japanese teams such as Matsui Katoo, Kenji Takasuke Takasuke, etc., but because the South Korean team also lost to the Japanese team on the last day, the Chinese Taipei team won the runner-up and won the Athens Olympics' right to represent the Athens Olympics, returning to the Olympic hall for twelve years.
However, in addition to being happy, it is also surprising that there is a difficult gap in strength between the Chinese Taipei team and the Japanese team.
Athens Olympic baseball event in August 2004, all parties originally expected Cuba, Japan and Canada to be the top three teams, while the Chinese Taipei team competed with Australia and the Netherlands for the remaining four open spots.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Taipei team lost to Italy four-to-five. Although they won Australia and the Netherlands, they still won three wins and four losses with a total score, ranking fifth among the eight participating teams and missed the rematch.
Wang Jianmin whirlwind
Wang Jianmin was born in Tainan City Chongxue Primary School, Jianxing Guo Middle School, Zhonghua Middle School, Taipei Sports College and other famous baseball schools. He is over 190 cm tall and is a professional pitcher. In 2000, Wang Jianmin performed well in the "Dayang Cup" Top Five Baseball Invitational Tournament and the A-base Spring League, and shot a 151-kilometer ball speed, which attracted the attention of scouts from all over the world. In May of the same year, Wang Jianmin signed an agreement with the New York Yankees to join the minor league system of the New York Yankees for a contract fee of $2.01 million.
Then Wang Jianmin started from the short-term 1A team in the minor league; since 2003, Wang Jianmin was invited to participate in the major league spring training warm-up match for the first time and was promoted to the 2A team; in 2004, he was promoted to the 3A team.During this period, he was called up by the Chinese Taipei team many times, participating in the Busan Asian Games in October 2002, the Sapporo Asian Baseball Championship in Japan in November 2003, and the Athens Olympics in 2004.
After five years of hard work in the minor league, he finally entered the major league on April 30, 2005, facing the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the third Taiwanese baseball player to play in the major league and the first Taiwanese baseball player to represent the Yankees Major League team. To summarize the 2005 Major League season regular match, Wang Jianmin won 8 wins and 5 losses, and his performance was stable.
006 Major League season regular match, Wang Jianmin won 19 wins, 6 losses and 1 rescue successful. He tied with Minnesota Twins' friend Han Santana as the winning bidding king of the year, and was also the first Asian winning bidding king in the major league. In the first round of the playoffs on October 3 (American League Divisional Game), Wang Jianmin won the winning shot at the Yankees at home against the visiting Detroit Tigers, becoming the first Asian pitcher in major league history to win the playoffs. On November 17, he won the American Professional Baseball League pitcher award "Cy Young Award" vote.
Since mid-2005, Wang Jianmin's outstanding performance in the major leagues and the fueling of the news media has aroused the enthusiasm of fans across Taiwan for the American Professional Baseball. Many fans not only watched Wang Jianmin play through satellite broadcasts, but also paid close attention to his daily life, causing a "Wang Jianmin whirlwind".
Professional Baseball Gambling Storm
On July 25, 2005, La New Bears rookie catcher Chen Zhaoying was detained by the prosecution after the game. Suspicion of signing and betting appeared again, and most fans' strong disappointment reappeared. A total of 6 players and 1 coach were detained or handed over bail after interrogation, and were subsequently fired by their team and will never be hired. During the investigation, the prosecutor in charge was found to be involved in illegal affairs such as corruption and bribery, and the case was quite complicated.
Because the "Wang Jianmin Tornado" was beginning to have a fever at that time, fans who were disappointed with the environment of the Taiwan Professional Baseball Team turned to their concerns about the Yankees' major league games, which caused the box office of the "Chinese Professional Baseball Team" to decline sharply in the 2006 season, and the prospects were once again cast a shadow.
On August 23, 2007, CITIC Whale players Zeng Hanzhou, Ji Junlin, Wang Yimin, Xu Renjie and Su Zheyi were summoned by the "Tainan District Prosecutor's Office". After the interview, the five people were respectively punished and ordered. On August 25, CITIC Whale announced that it would terminate the contract with Zeng Hanzhou and Ji Junlin, and Zheng Changming, Chen Jianwei and Huang Guiyu, who were revealed to the case, were suspended from the team for indefinitely. Later, Zheng Changming, Chen Jianwei and Huang Guiyu were also terminated one after another.
In February 2008, the operating rights of Chengtai COBRAS originated from the Taiwan Alliance system were transferred and changed to the name of Midiya Tyrannosaurus. In October of the same year, it was reported that the senior management of Midiya was suspected of being released. On October 9, Midia was suspended by the China Professional Baseball Baseball Team, and the remaining seasons of the season were also cancelled. On October 23, the China Professional Baseball League announced that it would remove Midiya from the list. Even if the team resells it in the future, it will not be allowed to join the "China Professional Baseball League".
On November 11, 2008, the CITIC Whale team, which was troubled by the player signing incident, also announced its disbandment, and the "Major League of China" returned to the initial scale of only four teams.
When the professional baseball environment is facing serious tests, it can only rely on the sporadic efforts of individual groups. In November 2006, the annual champion of the Chinese Professional Baseball League La New Bear defeated the Korean Professional Baseball champion Sanxing Lions three-to-two in the second Asian Professional Baseball Competition, losing only to the Japanese Ham Fighter in Hokkaido, and won the runner-up of the professional baseball team. In November 2008, the annual championship of the China Professional Baseball Team, the Unified 7-ELEVEn Lions defeated the Korean professional baseball champion SK Feilong ten to four, losing only to Saitama Seibu Lions, winning the second runner-up for the China Professional Baseball Team.
Falling, declining and reviving
In March 2006, with the joint cooperation between the International Baseball Association and Major League Baseball, the first World Baseball Classics kicked off.As a result, the Chinese Taipei team lost to the South Korean team and the Japanese team in the Group A preliminaries held at the Tokyo Dome of Japan. Although they beat mainland China, they were still eliminated.
In September of the same year, the 16th Intercontinental Cup Baseball Tournament was held at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan. Under the advantage of landlords, the Chinese Taipei team won the third place again after 1983. In the Doha Asian Games Baseball Championship held at the end of November, the Chinese team went to the level and won the gold medal with a complete victory.
On August 15, 2008, the Chinese Taipei team reversed 7-8 in the Beijing Olympic baseball match, which is considered to be the biggest setback since its establishment. At the same time, since the 2012 London Olympics, baseball has no longer been a formal competition event. The development of the event depends entirely on the face of the United States and its international status has also been greatly reduced.
On March 7, 2009, in the World Baseball Classics Group A preliminaries, the Chinese Taipei team played in mainland China in the group stage, and lost one to four, becoming the first team to be eliminated in the event, and it was also a two-game losing streak against mainland China in the international arena. It is worth noting that some players who were permanently fired by the Taiwan baseball arena involving the 1997 professional baseball betting fraud case, such as Jiang Taiquan, Liao Minxiong, Zheng Baisheng, Guo Jiancheng, etc., went to mainland China with language-related gambling to guide baseball one after another in order to make a living. Some comments believe that these Taiwan experiences have contributed to the growth of mainland China.
lost twice in major competitions to mainland China, which has always been considered to be far less powerful than the Chinese Taipei team. This blow has set off a wave of despair and review within Taiwan, prompting the people to re-reflect on the harm brought by "Only Baseball", and thus gradually gaining attention from second-tier events such as weightlifting, taekwondo, and tennis, and moving towards the current development status of "a hundred flowers blooming". In order to boost the sluggish baseball market, Liu Zhaoxuan, director of the administrative agency of Taiwan, proposed the idea of a county and municipal governments establishing an amateur baseball team. In May 2009, the registration of four teams, namely Taipei City Chengba Team, Taipei County Chengba Team, Taoyuan Aviation City Baseball Team and Taichung Weida Chaoshun Baseball Team, were reviewed and approved. The first Taiwan Social Group A Baseball City Confrontation will be held in September. As the annual competition of the socialist team, we also hope to attract more companies to participate in Social Group A and drive the development of amateur baseball in Taiwan.
in June 2011 Chongyue Technology Baseball Team was established, and on November 10, 2011 Taitung County Hongshu Formation Team was established, with 9 social baseball teams.
On March 12, 2012, Huang Zhentai, who was the president of Soochow University and Fengjia University, took over as the "President of the Chinese Professional Baseball Baseball Team", demonstrating his determination to reform with concrete actions. In the first year, he gave birth to the Asian Winter Baseball League, resolved the crisis of dissolution of the Niu Team, and raised the issue of inviting Cuba to play the season and establishing the fifth team, bringing the Chinese Professional Baseball Team into a new era.
In March 2013, the Chinese Taipei team participated in the third World Baseball Classic Championship and won eighth place, and the world ranking rose from fifth to fourth place, second to Cuba, the United States and Japan.