Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions

Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions
File:Uni-lions logo.jpg
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The Uni-President Lions (Chinese: 統一獅)are a professional baseball team based in Tainan, Taiwan. It is owned by the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate. It has a strong fan base in southern Taiwan, especially around the Tainan area. The Lions are nicknamed Shih-tzu-chun (Chinese: 獅子軍, Lions Corps) by fans and Nan-ba-tien (Chinese: 南霸天, Southern Overlord) by others. The team's motto is "Clean, decisive, determined, progressive" (乾乾淨淨、勇猛果斷、緊咬不放、積極進取).

History

Amateur Era

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Lions players warming up before a game.

The Lions organization was first founded as amateur Uni-President Baseball Team (Chinese: 統一棒球隊) in 1989, for the purpose of training and preparation for professionalization in the next year. The corporation had in mind to draw players from Taipower Baseball Team, an amateur baseball team based in nearby Kaohsiung that has been producing some of the best players Taiwan had offered, but this idea was soon met with difficulties.

Uni-President originally offered Lin Chia-hsiang, the then head coach of Taipower, the position as manager of the new team, which Lin accepted at first and agreed to recruit players within Taipower for Uni-President. However, players were reluctant to join the new baseball league, and Lin could only secure six players, far below the 15 players minimum requirement of the amateur league. Lin then turned down the offer, leaving Uni-President in a difficult situation. The team then turned to Cheng Kuen-chih, a former coach of Taipower respected by players and coaches alike, to take the position as manager and recruit players. Cheng then used his connection to convince players to join the team, and the team barely past the 15 players requirement after Brother baseball team lent two players to Uni-President.

The team then join the amateur league, and participated in two amateur series. However, unlike Brother and Wei Chuan, who had a long amateur history with active players, over half of Uni-President's players were retired players from Taipower, thus did not performed as good as the other teams. This flaw also caused the Lions great pain in their first years of professional baseball. The team was professionalized in 1990, the year CPBL was founded.

Rise of the Lions

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Alternative logo of the Lions

The team was professionalized on January 1, 1990, following the formation of CPBL. The mascot that was chosen for Uni-President was Lions, hence the team was renamed Uni-President Lions. The Lions played the opening game of CPBL on March 17, 1990 against Brother Elephants in the now demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium; the Lions defeated the Elephants 4-3, scoring their first victory in professional baseball. However, the Lions performed poorly in the first half-season, place fourth with a losing streak of eight games following their first victory. The Lions managed to do better in the second half-season, place second in the second half and third overall.

The season of 1991 saw a great improvement in the Lions' performance. The Lions placed first in the second half-season, and advanced to the playoff to play Wei Chuan Dragons, which they defeat 4-2 and won their first seasonal title. However, the next three years saw the dominance of the Elephants, who won three consecutive season titles from 1992 to 1994, and defeated the Lions 4-2 in the 1993 playoff. It was around this time that the Lions and Elephants developed a long-lasting rivalry.

In the season of 1995, the Elephants suffered when CPBL increased the tours from three games to four games. The Elephants, lacked a decent pitching staff, could not have an efficient rotation going while the Lions benefited from its strong pitching staff with the so-called "Four Aces" that helped the Lions dominated the league. The Lions won both half-seasonal titles and was declared the seasonal champion. The Lions would again win the seasonal title in 1996, after easily defeated the Dragons four games to two in the playoff.

After the 1996 playoff, many believed the Lions would continued to dominate CPBL, but competitions from a new competitor, game-fixing scandal, and a loophole in the regulation destroyed the Lions' bid for a third consecutive title.

Black Eagles Scandal and TML

The Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium is the home stadium of the Lions.

The impact of the formation of Taiwan Major League on the Lions was relatively light, although they lost their star pitcher Kuo Chin-Hsing to the new competitor; on the contrary, another ace, Jose Nunez, was signed by Daiei Hawks in the same year, reduced the "Four Aces" to two. Also, the Black Eagles Scandal in mid-season of 1997 was a major blow to the Lions. The Lions had to suspend several players due to allegation of their involvement in the scandal, and shut down the team expansion project which was part of the formation of the CPBL minor league. However, the Lions performed extremely well despites these events, and was only prevented from winning the season title by regulation.

At the end of 1997 season, the Lions led the league with 58-7-31, surpassing the Dragons (46-4-46) and China Times Eagles (41-4-51), ranked third and fourth respectively. However, the regulation dicated that the Taiwan Series should be played by the team that leads the league in the first half-season and the team in the second half-season. It was assumed that if a team leads the league in the whole year, it should have ranked first in both half-seasons, and thus allowed to participate in the championship series. The loophole became obvious when the Dragons(ranked seventh in the first half but first in the second half) and the Eagles(ranked first in the first half and seventh in the second half) got their berths to Taiwan Series, and the Lions could not do anything about it. The loophole was fixed in the following year, but the Lions lost their dominance to the Dragons, whom went on to win three consecutive season titles, during which the Lions would be eliminated by them in the first round of playoff of 1998 and 1999.

CPBL-TML Merger

The merger of the two leagues brought the number of teams in CPBL from four to six, but did not present any problem to the Lions. The Lions managed to best the two new teams in the season of 2003, but failed to secure a ticket to the Taiwan Series. Since 2004, the Lions performed considerably well by advance into the Taiwan Series in every season, but was met with defeats each time. The Lions were defeated by Sinon Bulls in 2004, Macoto Cobras in 2005, and La New Bears in 2006. Despites these defeats, the Lions were praised for its stable performance over the years, and are considered one of the best team in Taiwan.

"San-bao Incident"

The so-called San-bao Incident (三寶事件, literally means Incident of Three Treasures) took place in the end of 2004 season. After being defeated in the Taiwan Series at Game 7, the organization concluded that the Lions needed to make drastic change to their lineup, and laid off seven players including designated hitter Lo Min-ching, outfielder Chen Cheng-hsien, and catcher Tseng Chih-chen, the three most senior players on the team who are collectively referred as San-bao (三寶, three treasure). This move was opposed by the majority of fans, who speculated the organization was hiding the reason of this move. After protest messages have paralyzed the Lions' website, the organization decided to offer the three coach position on the team, to which Tseng and Chen accepted; however, Lo, who was only several RBIs away from his 700th RBI, wanted to continue his career as player, and signed with Macoto Cobras. Lo retired at the end of 2005 season and returned to the Lions to take up the hitting coach position. After the 2006 season, Tseng and Chen were laid off due to the downsize of the coaching staff, and Lo was promoted to the bench coach of minor league team.

Organization

Minor league

A minor league game with La New Bears

The Lions were credited as the first organization to form a minor league team. As early as 1990, when CPBL was first formed, the Lions began to scout for talented players for the project. The minor team, however, was disbanded due to lack of opponent and players. In 1997, the Lions again formed a minor league team, but it met the same fate as its predecessor due to the game-fixing scandal and the decline in attendance. No further expansion was made until after the CPBL-TML merger took place.

In late 2003, after the merger of the two competing league, the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association began to cooperate with CPBL to form a minor league. At first, the Lions were very supportive of this project, but later back out due to financial reason. However, in early 2006, the Lions announced the revival of the minor league project, and began the expansion of the team. There are currently a major team and a minor team in the organization, with separate coaching staff, medical staff, transportation, and games schedule in accordance with CPBL minor league.

Style of play

The Lions are known to the heavy Japanese influence on its style of play. Throughout its history, the Lions have hired many Japanese coaches serving as pitching, batting, and head coaches. The Lions' lineup was established on the traditional Japanese baseball doctrine, with emphasis on a strong pitching staff, a good defense lineup, and speed on the bases. It is not uncommon to see some very conservative plays, such as sacrifice bunts, when the Lions were on the offense. Consequently, the Lions enjoys the lowest overall ERA as a team in CPBL, but also have lower scores output, hence the Lions rely on foreign players to strengthen the offensive lineup. This style of play has made the Lions the traditional rival of Brother Elephants, who have a strong offensive lineup, high HR and score output, but lack a decent pitching staff.

Some fans have criticized the Lions for being "too Japanese," and have repeatedly urged the management to hire more indigenous coaches on the coaching staff. The fans supporting the hiring of more indigenous coaches argued that foreign coaches do not understand the Taiwanese tradition of baseball, and the barrier of languages would prevent a trusting relationship between the players and coaches. These claims have been rebuffed by the supporters of the current policy, who argued that some of the Japanese coaches have worked in Taiwan for so many years, that communication with indigenous players and coaches does not present a problem to them; some others also pointed out that, since baseball was introduced to Taiwan by the Japanese, Japanese baseball traditions influenced Taiwanese baseball players significantly, and there is really no need to separate Japanese and Taiwanese tradition in baseball. Furthermore, many baseball critics in Taiwan question the ability of Taiwanese coaches to manage a professional team. Taiwanese coaches are notorious of extensive use the few players they trust, that these players are frequent to injuries and some forced to retired from a career in baseball. This issue is still under heated debates among the fans of Lions and other teams; however, all but one Japanese coaches were fired due to the poor performance of the team in the first half-season of 2007 season.

Foreign cooperation

The Lions have participated in several CPBL hosted friendly matches with teams from other parts of Asia, as well as some games hosted by the other organizations, such as the Asia-Pacific Super Baseball Games in 1996, which the Lions won by defeating Daiei Hawks and Hanhwa Eagles. The Lions also played some friendly matches hosted by themselves, the most recent one was the three games held with Kia Tigers, who defeated the Lions in all three games in 2005. These defeats has influenced the Lions greatly, and they began to recruit pitchers of different pitching styles and pitches in the following season.

On the other hand, the Lions have been working with other organization in Asia and North America to improve the performance of the organization, collaborators includes Yomiuri Giants of NPB's Central League and Red Sox organization of MLB.

Roster

Managers

Manager #	Manager Name	Years	Games	Wins	Losses	Ties
1	Cheng Kuen-chi (鄭昆吉)	1990 - 1993	360	178	162	20
2	Oishi Yataro (大石彌太郎)	1994 - 1996	290	170	111	9
3	Lin Chia-Hsiang (林家祥)	1997 - 1998	194	111	73	10
(Acting)	Inoue Osamu (井上 修)	1998	7	3	4	0
4	Tseng Chih-chen (曾智偵)	1999 - 2002	353	178	164	11
(Acting)	Takenouchi Masashi (竹之內雅史)	2000	10	3	7	0
5	Hsieh Chang-heng (謝長亨)	2003 - 2005	250	132	105	13
6	Ohashi Yutaka (大橋 穰)	2005 - 2007	167	76	81	10
(Acting)	Lo Kuo-chang (羅國璋)	2007	33	23	10	0
7	Lu Wen-sheng (呂文生)	2007 - Present	50	31	18	1

• Record for the current manager is only through the last complete half-season.

Notable Former Players

• Izzy Alcantara - famous for video footage in which he kicked the catcher after being thrown at.
• José Canó - father of Robinson Canó, Yankees second baseman.
• Eric Cyr - on the forty-men roster of Canadian national team for 2006 WBC and representing Canada in 2008 Olympic Games.
• Mark Grant - current commentator for San Diego Padres.
• Hsieh Chang-heng (謝長亨) - former manager of the Lions.
• Kuo Yuen-chih (郭源治) - famous Taiwanese baseball player whose jersey number 33 is a retired number for Taiwanese national team.
• Lo Min-ching (羅敏卿) - current head coach for minor league Lions.
• Tseng Chih-chen (曾智偵) - former manager and assistant general manager.

Retired Number

• 22 - The number of former player, coach, and manager Tseng Chih-chen, who played for 12 years and coached for 6 years for the Lions, for his achievement as player. This number was un-retired when Tseng came out of retirement in 2003, and, although no ceremony took place, was retired again when Tseng retired for the second time in 2005. He then served as Assistant General Manager for one more year, before being dismissed during the management restructuring.

The names of Japanese coaches/players may not be accurate because Uni-President Lions have only released their name in Chinese characters, which may not be their actual name in Japanese characters.

Records

Regular Season

Season	Name	First Half-Season					Second Half-Season
		Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place
1990	Uni-President Lions	16	29	0	.356	4	21	20	4	.512	2
1991	Uni-President Lions	21	20	4	.512	2	25	14	6	.641	1
1992	Uni-President Lions	20	23	2	.465	3	21	22	2	.488	2
1993	Uni-President Lions	25	20	0	.556	3	29	14	2	.674	1
1994	Uni-President Lions	22	20	3	.524	3	26	18	1	.591	2
1995	Uni-President Lions	32	17	1	.653	1	30	19	1	.612	1
1996	Uni-President Lions	34	15	1	.694	1	26	22	2	.542	3
1997	Uni-President Lions	28	16	4	.636	2	30	15	3	.667	2
1998	Uni-President Lions	57	45	3	.563	2
1999	Uni-President Lions	56	37	0	.602	2
2000	Uni-President Lions	17	27	1	.386	4	27	16	2	.628	1
2001	Uni-President Lions	27	14	4	.659	1	22	23	0	.489	3
2002	Uni-President Lions	18	24	3	.429	4	14	30	1	.318	4
2003	Uni-President Lions	24	23	3	.511	4	30	16	4	.652	2
2004	Uni-President Lions	28	18	4	.543	1	26	22	2	.542	3
2005	Uni-President Lions	24	26	0	.480	5	24	23	3	.511	3
2006	Uni-President Lions	28	18	4	.609	2	20	27	3	.426	5
2007	Uni-President Lions	27	23	0	.540	2	31	18	1	.633	2

Last update: 10/10/2007

CPBL Playoffs

Season	Name	First Round			Taiwan Series
		Opponent	Wins	Losses	Opponent	Wins	Losses
1991	Uni-President Lions				Wei Chuan Dragons	4	2
1993	Uni-President Lions				Brother Elephants	2	4
1996	Uni-President Lions				Wei Chuan Dragons	4	2
1998	Uni-President Lions	Wei Chuan Dragons	1	2	-	-	-
1999	Uni-President Lions	Wei Chuan Dragons	1	2	-	-	-
2000	Uni-President Lions				Sinon Bulls	4	3
2001	Uni-President Lions				Brother Elephants	3	4
2004	Uni-President Lions				Sinon Bulls	3	4
2005	Uni-President Lions	Macoto Cobras	1	3	-	-	-
2006	Uni-President Lions	Sinon Bulls	3	0	La New Bears	0	4
2007	Uni-President Lions	Macoto Cobras	3	0	La New Bears	4	3

• The Lions won the championship in 1995 by virtue of winning both half-seasons.
  
• Championship series was renamed Taiwan Series in 2003

Asia Series

Year	Name	Round Robin			Chaniponship Round
		Wins	Losses	Standing	Opponent	Result
2007	Uni-President Lions	-	-	-	-	-

Notable Achievement

Individual

Pan Wei-lun

Starting pitcher Pan Wei-lun, Rookie of the Year of 2003, achieved 16 consecutive wins in the season of 2007.

Tilson Brito

Third baseman Tilson Brito hit 33 home runs in the season of 2007, broke the original record of 31 home runs by Luis Iglesias and Jay Kirkpatrick.

Organizational

17 Winning Streak

In the season of 2006, the Lions went on a winning-streak of 17 games, which broke the original record of 12 games by Macoto Cobras. This achievement also boosted the team from fifth place to second place, and almost guarenteed the Lions a berth to the playoff.

See also

• Chinese Professional Baseball League
• Professional baseball in Taiwan
• Taiwan Series

External links

Chinese

• Chinese Professional Baseball League
• Uni-President Lions

English

• History of the Chinese Professional Baseball League
• Taiwanese Baseball Primer
• Uni-President Corporation Official Website