Wei Chuan Dragons
Taiwanese professional baseball team
| Wei Chuan Dragons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 味全龍 | ||||
 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| League | Chinese Professional Baseball League | |||
| Location | Taipei City (1989–1999, 2021–present) Hsinchu (2022–present) | |||
| Ballpark | Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium (1989–1999) Tianmu Baseball Stadium (2021–present) Hsinchu Baseball Stadium (2022–present) | |||
| Founded | 1989 2019 (refounded) | |||
| League championships | 19902 • 19911 • 19962 • 19972 • 20232 | |||
| Taiwan Series championships | 1990, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2023 | |||
| Colors | Red | |||
| Playoff berths | 8 (1990, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2022, 2023) | |||
| Manager | Yeh Chun-chang | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
| ||||
The Wei Chuan Dragons (Chinese: 味全龍; pinyin: Wèiquán Lóng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bī-chôan-liông) are a professional baseball team in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) that originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations were held to revive the franchise and return to the CPBL. The team played one season of minor league baseball in 2020 and rejoined the CPBL in 2021.[1]
The Dragons won the Taiwan Series championship five times, in 1990, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2023.
History
Wei Chuan Dragons had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei Chuan Foods Corporation, started sponsoring Chinese Culture University's baseball team in the 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). Due to the club's long history in the amateur era, its matches often attracted large crowds, and games with the Brother Elephants, another popular team, were often sold out. The team played at the now-demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium.
During the 1990s, the club won the CPBL championship four times, in 1990, 1997, 1998 and 1999, and by the end of the 1999 season became the team with the most CPBL championship titles. In 1999, Wei Chuan Food Corporation announced its decision to disband the club,[2] mainly because the Ting Hsin International Group, who became the largest shareholder of Wei Chuan Food Corporation in 1998, did not show interest in supporting the baseball club.
In 2019, 20 years after the disbandment, the club was re-established and played the 2020 season in the minor league, before rejoining the CPBL in 2021.[3] In 2023, the Dragons defeated Rakuten Monkeys in the 2023 Taiwan Series with four wins in seven games to win their fifth championship, 24 years since their last championship.[4]
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 | |||||
| 2021 | 22 | 36 | 2 | .379 | 5 | 28 | 31 | 1 | .475 | 3 |
| 2022 | 31 | 29 | 0 | .517 | 4 | 26 | 29 | 5 | .473 | 4 |
| 2023 | 30 | 27 | 3 | .526 | 2 | 32 | 26 | 2 | .552 | 1 |
Playoffs
| Season | First round | Taiwan Series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Wins | Losses | Opponent | Wins | Losses | |
| 1990 | Did not play | Mercuries Tigers | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1991 | Did not play | Uni-President Lions | 3 | 4 | ||
| 1996 | Did not play | Uni-President Lions | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1997 | Did not play | 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 |
| 2022 | CTBC Brothers | 1 | 3 | Eliminated | ||
| 2023 | Did not play | Rakuten Monkeys | 4 | 3 | ||
Roster
| Wei Chuan Dragons roster | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||
| Pitchers
| Catchers
Infielders
| Outfielders
| Manager Coaches
Roster updated on 4 December 2022 | |||||
See also
Notes
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wei Chuan Dragons.
- ^ Shan, Shelley (14 May 2019). "Wei Chuan Dragons are fifth team to join CPBL". Taipei Times. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- ^ Shan, Shelley (25 June 2019). "CPBL welcomes back Dragons after 20 years". Taipei Times. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ "Expansion club Weichuan Dragons open camp as CPBL gets ready for its first-ever 5-team season". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
- ^ "中職》味全龍6比3打退桃猿 睽違24年總冠軍賽封王" (in Chinese). China Times. 12 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
External links
- Wei Chuan Dragons official website (in Chinese)
- v
- t
- e
- CTBC Brothers
- Fubon Guardians
- Rakuten Monkeys
- TSG Hawks
- Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions
- Wei Chuan Dragons
- Taiwan Major League (defunct)
- Asia Series (defunct)
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