Lamigo Monkeys
| Lamigo Monkeys Established 2003 |
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Chinese Professional Baseball League (2003–present) |
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| Records | ||
| Asia Series titles (0) | ||
| Taiwan Series titles (1) | 2006 | |
| Playoffs berths (4) | 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2011 | |
| Owner(s): La New Corporation | ||
| Manager: Hung Yi-chung | ||
| General Manager: Su Ching-hsuan | ||
The Lamigo Monkeys (Chinese: Lamigo 桃猿; pinyin: Lamigo Táoyúan), formerly First Financial Holdings Agan (第一金控金剛, abbreviated 第一金剛) and then the La New Bears (La New 熊), are a professional baseball team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. Owned and administered by the Kaohsiung-based shoe-producing La New Corporation, the Bears qualified for the playoffs in 2006 for the first time in team history, and by finishing with the best record for the whole season, gained an automatic berth in the Taiwan Series.
The Bears played their home games at Chengching Lake Baseball Field in Kaohsiung County (now part of Kaohsiung City) from 2004 to 2010. In the 2011 season, their home stadium was moved to Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. Accordingly, the team's name was changed to the Lamigo Monkeys.
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[edit] History
[edit] First Financial Holdings Agan
Sometimes known as the First Securities Agan, the Agan was owned and administered by the First Financial Holding Corporation, a government-funded financial holding service. Its then-chairman Chen Chien-lung (陳建隆) was a keen political supporter of President Chen Shui-bian, and, upon the president's request, immediately agreed to take over one of the two former TML teams after TML was merged into CPBL in January 2003. Since Macoto Bank had already decided to take-over the Macoto Gida, Chen Chien-lung took-over the Agan as promised. interestingly, the bulk of Agan's player came from Taipei Gida and Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala, and not the Taichung Agan which carried the same mascot. Agan played its home games at Chengching Lake Baseball Field.
Without a strong roster plus the management's inexperience and unprofessionalism in running a professional sports club, the Agan performed poorly right from the start of the 2003 season. After Chen Chien-lung's sudden resignation due to allegation of insider trading in August 2003, the First Financial Holding Corporation no longer showed willingness in running the team. The Agan finished its the 2003 season placing fifth overall, and did not win any of the 20 games against Brother Elephants, the Taiwan Series champion of that season.
[edit] La New Bears
Just before the 2004 season, Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing invited La New Corporation, a footwear manufacture to sponsor the then-vacant Chengching Lake Baseball Field, which was under the management of Kaohsiung County after the disbandment of Taiwan Major League. La New Corporation eventually agreed and, in addition, offered to buy First Financial Holdings Agan, whose management has been struggling in the past season. On December 16, 2003, La New completed the process with First Financial Holdings and renamed the team La New Bears. In the first two years of their existence, the Bears did not perform well. But after several addition to the roster through drafts and the minor league, the Bears turned the team around, eventually winning the 2006 Taiwan Series title. The Bears did not win any title since then.
[edit] Lamigo Monkeys
After several years of futile effort to manage the Kaohsiung market, the team relocated to Taoyuan County and changed its name to the Lamigo Monkeys in January 2011. The Monkeys play their home games at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium, and their name in Chinese, taoyuan (桃猿), is a homophone to their new home county. Despite the name change, La New Corporation retained its ownership of the team.[1]
[edit] Records
| Qualified for playoffs | Taiwan Series Championship | Asia Series Championship |
[edit] Regular seasons
| Season | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. | Place |
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| First Financial Holdings Agan | |||||
| 2003 | 20 (9/11) | 71 (37/34) | 9 (4/5) | .220 (.196/.244) | 5 (6/5) |
| La New Bears | |||||
| 2004 | 40 (18/22) | 56 (30/26) | 4 (2/2) | .417 (.375/.458) | 6 (6/5) |
| 2005 | 42 (16/26) | 55 (32/23) | 3 (2/1) | .433 (.333/.531) | 6 (6/2) |
| 2006 | 62 (30/32) | 34 (19/15) | 4 (2/2) | .646 (.612/.681) | 1 (1/1) |
| 2007 | 58 (26/32) | 42 (24/18) | 0 (0/0) | .580 (.520/.640) | 2 (2/1) |
| 2008 | 61 (28/33) | 35 (19/16) | 4 (3/1) | .610 (.596/.673) | 2 (2/1) |
| 2009 | 61 (33/28) | 58 (26/32) | 1 (1/0) | .513 (.559/.467) | 2 (2/4) |
| 2010 | 55 (31/24) | 62 (27/35) | 3 (2/1) | .470 (.534/.407) | 3 (2/4) |
| Lamigo Monkeys | |||||
| 2011 | 66 (33/33) | 52 (26/26) | 2 (1/1) | .559 (.559/.559) | 1 (2/1) |
| Total | 465 | 465 | 30 | .500 | -- |
[edit] Playoffs
| Season | First Round | Taiwan Series | ||||
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| Opponent | Wins | Losses | Opponent | Wins | Losses | |
| La New Bears | ||||||
| 2006 | Seeded first | Uni-President Lions | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2007 | Seeded first | Uni-President Lions | 3 | 4 | ||
| 2008 | Brother Elephants | 0 | 3 | Eliminated | ||
| Lamigo Monkeys | ||||||
| 2011 | No first round. | Uni-President Lions | 1 | 4 | ||
| Total | 8 | 12 | ||||
[edit] Asia Series
| Year | Round Robin | Championship Round | ||||
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| Wins | Losses | Standing | Opponent | Result | ||
| La New Bears | ||||||
| 2006 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters | 0 - 1 (L) | |
| Total | 2 | 1 | -- | 0W - 1L | ||
[edit] Roster
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Lamigo Monkeys roster
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| Active Roster | Coaches/Others | |||||||
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Pitchers
Roster updated 2008-05-04 |
Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
Minor league coaches
Trainees
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[edit] Notable former players
Cory Bailey
Todd Betts
Tony Fiore
Jacob Cruz - current hitting coach of the Yakima Bears.
Midre Cummings- José Silva
Mac Suzuki
Víctor Zambrano- Shane Youman - current pitcher for the Lotte Giants.
[edit] Retired number
- 10 - This number is reserved for the fans, as the tenth player on the field.
[edit] See also
- Chinese Professional Baseball League
- First Financial Holdings Agan
- 2006 Chinese Professional Baseball League Playoffs
- 2007 CPBL season
[edit] References
- ^ Huang, Paul (January 7, 2011). "La New Bears become the Lamigo Monkeys". Taipei Times. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2011/01/07/2003492888. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
[edit] External links
- Official site, in Chinese
- Site of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, in Chinese
- La New Corporation Official Website
- First Financial Holdings Agan in Taiwan Baseball Wiki (in Traditional Chinese)
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