Professional baseball in Taiwan

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



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

Historical background

The first official baseball team in Taiwan was formed in 1906, when the island was a Japanese colony by the Middle School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School , and the first organized baseball game was played by this team and the baseball team of the Normal School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School . From 1906 through the mid 1920s, Taiwan's baseball teams consisted of mostly players. Taiwanese players didn't become actively involved in the sport until the “Neng-Gao Club” in the mid 1920s, and the Kano baseball team in the early 1930s.

The CPBL

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



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

The TML

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



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

Exporting Talent

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

Further reading

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