Four Decades of Taiwanese Players Abroad: From Kuo Tai-yuan and Kuo Yuan-chih to Wang Chien-ming
From NPB's "Oriental Express" to a 19-game winner for the Yankees, generation after generation of Taiwanese players has reached the top stages abroad.
Much of Taiwan's baseball story has been written overseas. Taiwanese players were pitching in Japan's professional leagues before the CPBL even existed, and since the turn of the century wave after wave has taken on Major League Baseball. Here are some of the most important chapters.
The pioneers in Japan
In the 1980s, Kuo Yuan-chih and Kuo Tai-yuan made their names in Nippon Professional Baseball. Kuo Yuan-chih spent many years with the Chunichi Dragons, succeeding as both a starter and a closer and passing 100 wins and 100 saves, which made him Taiwan's best-known player in Japan.
Kuo Tai-yuan was famous for his fastball and nicknamed the Oriental Express by the Japanese press. He joined the Seibu Lions in 1985, threw a no-hitter in his first season and became a key starter in Seibu's golden era, winning several Japan Series titles. Lu Ming-tsu, who homered in his debut for the Yomiuri Giants, is another name Taiwanese fans still love to recall.
These pioneers proved Taiwanese players could succeed in Asia's strongest league and opened the door for those who followed.
Knocking on the majors' door
In 2002 Chen Chin-feng reached the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first Taiwanese player to do so. A year later Tsao Chin-hui took the mound for the Colorado Rockies, the first Taiwanese pitcher in the majors. Their arrival made the big leagues feel real to children in Taiwan, not just a distant world on television.
Wang Chien-ming, the Pride of Taiwan
The player who set the whole island buzzing about the majors was Wang Chien-ming. He won 19 games for the New York Yankees in both 2006 and 2007, led the American League in wins in 2006 and finished second in the Cy Young voting. For several seasons, early mornings in Taiwan meant families gathered around the television for Yankees games, and the phrase Pride of Taiwan became part of everyday speech.
Sadly, in 2008 he hurt his foot running the bases, and injuries followed him for the rest of his career; he never quite returned to his peak. But his influence went far beyond his statistics and inspired a generation of Taiwanese players.
The next generations
After Wang, Chen Wei-yin starred for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan before becoming a steady starter for the Baltimore Orioles, and position players such as Lin Tzu-wei and Chang Yu-cheng also reached the majors. Today a new group of young players is developing in American and Japanese systems, waiting for their chance.
It is not only about the games
Much of the hardship of playing abroad happens off the field. A new language, unfamiliar food and living alone in a strange city are tests every young player faces. In the United States most players also have to climb through the minor leagues, riding long bus trips on modest pay while they wait for the call to the majors.
Many of Taiwan's players abroad have said the hardest part was not the opposition but the loneliness. That is why every Taiwanese player who reaches the top stage has a story of effort behind him that fans rarely see, and why each of them deserves the applause.
Support at home has grown with them. Fans follow overseas players through every box score and broadcast, and clubs and schools in Taiwan now prepare young players earlier for the language and training they will meet abroad. Each generation that goes overseas makes the road a little easier for the next.
For Baseball Dream players
The story of Taiwan's players abroad is a reminder that development takes time, a stage and opportunity. The same is true of your young players in Baseball Dream: give them playing time and be patient with their potential, and one day your club may produce a star of its own.