Wei Chuan Dragons

Wei Chuan Dragons
League	Chinese Professional Baseball League
Location	Taipei
Ballpark	Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium
Year founded	1989
League championships	1990 2nd Half 1991 1st Half 1996 2nd Half 1997 2nd Half
Taiwan Series championships	1990, 1997, 1998, 1999
Colors	Red
Uniforms
Home Away

The Wei Chuan Dragons (Chinese: 味全龍; pinyin: Wèiquán Lóng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bī-chôan-liông) were a professional baseball team in Taiwan's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.

Brief history

File:CPBL Wei Chuan Dragons uniform 20150912.jpg

Wei Chuan Dragons uniform

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. After these student players graduated, Wei-Chuan formed an amateur team to allow them to continue playing baseball in 1978; it was this team that later professionalized to become one of the first four teams of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). Because of its long Amateur history, its games often drew large attendances, and games with Brother Elephants, another popular team, were often sold-out. This team took the now-demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium as its home throughout its history.

This club won CPBL championships 4 times in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and became the team with most CPBL championships after the 1999 season ended. However, just as a Dragons Dynasty seemly to form, Wei Chuan Food Corporation announced its decision to disband this club at that time, mainly due to:

• Threats from local criminal gangs (Wei Chuan Dragons's then manager Hsu Sheng-ming was attacked in April 1999)
• The financial loss brought about by CPBL's game-fixing scandals since 1996
• Wei Chuan Food Corporation was absorbed by the China-based Ting Hsin International Group in 1998, and this Ting Hsin corporation did not show high interest in supporting a baseball club.

The disbandment shocked many local fans and a procession was even raised against the decision. However the Wei Chuan Food Corporation did not change its mind. Most Wei Chuan Dragons' coaches and players later found their new homes at Sinon Bulls or Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala. CPBL also did not fine those former Wei Chuan players and coaches who returned with Macoto Gida and First Financial Holdings Agan before the 2003 season started, because they did not leave CPBL voluntarily.

Records

Qualified for playoffs

Taiwan Series Championship

Regular Seasons

Season	First Half-Season					Second Half-Season
	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place
1990	25	20	0	.556	2	27	14	4	.659	1
1991	26	17	2	.605	1	20	19	6	.513	2
1992	23	20	2	.535	2	18	22	5	.450	4
1993	26	19	0	.578	2	22	21	2	.512	3
1994	17	27	1	.386	5	19	25	1	.432	4
1995	25	25	0	.500	3	22	27	1	.449	5
1996	25	23	2	.521	4	30	20	0	.600	1
1997	15	31	2	.326	7	31	15	2	.674	1
1998	56	48	1	.538	3	No half-seasons
1999	49	39	4	.557	3

Playoffs

Season	First Round			Taiwan Series
	Opponent	Wins	Losses	Opponent	Wins	Losses
1990	No first round			Mercuries Tigers	4	2
1991	No first round			Uni-President Lions	3	4
1996	No first round			Uni-President Lions	2	4
1997	No first round			China Times Eagles	4	2
1998	Uni-President Lions	2	1	Sinon Bulls	4	3
1999	Uni-President Lions	2	1	Chinatrust Whales	4	1

Notable former players

• José Canó
• Silvestre Campusano
• Chang Tai-Shan
• Huang Ping-yang
• Joe Strong
• Freddie Toliver
• [(Jim Aylward)]

See also

• The Black Eagles Incident
• China Times Eagles
• Mercuries Tigers

References

• Wei Chuan Dragons in Taiwan Baseball Wiki (in Traditional Chinese)
• Wei Chuan Food Corporation official website