A new dawn has broken for baseball with the unification yesterday of the two rival professional leagues that have divided and ruled the game for seven long years.
With the signing of an agreement between the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and the Taiwan Major League (TML), baseball will for the foreseeable future be governed by one body, the Chinese Professional Baseball Major League (中華職業棒球大聯盟).
The merger will see two TML teams -- Agan and Taipei Gida -- join the four CPBL teams: Brother Elephants, Chinatrust Whales, Sinon Bulls and President Lions.
The new six-team format will involve around 10 games a week beginning in March, for a total of around 300 games in the regular season.
The playoffs and a best-of-seven "Taiwan Series" between the new league's two top teams would be held in October.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said the merging of the two leagues would remind some fans of the golden years of baseball, when Taiwan was a major player in the Little League and at an amateur level, winning a silver medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
"Baseball made Taiwan famous on the international stage. It also connected overseas Taiwanese and became the most popular sport in this country. Baseball is recognized as the national sport in people's minds," Chen said.
The merger would also give fans hope that Taiwan would once again shine on the international stage, Chen said.
The DPP government has put increased emphasis on winning its first Olympic gold medal and Chen said this must be one of the new league's goals.
"Once we enjoyed the compliment of being called a `baseball power.' Now, the most important task for the merged league is to help us win the gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
"We sincerely hope that our `Baseball Dream Team' will help us claim the title back and open the door for sports diplomacy," Chen said.
Sports Council chairman Lin Deh-fu said he had been involved with the merger since February last year and was optimistic the new arrangement would benefit the national team.
"We hope the new league will work closely with the national team in international tournaments. Let's work together and bring the highest honors home," Lin said.
CPBL Commissioner Tung said there had been growing pains during the development of baseball in Taiwan.
"Seven years ago baseball in Taiwan went through a period of chaos as a two-league war started," Tung said.
"With vicious competition came some negative results."
But, he said, a single league would mend broken ties and provide the backing local baseball needed to once again become the people's game.
"`Baseball's coming home.' It is no longer just a hope, it is happening as we speak. The merged league will lead professional baseball in Taiwan toward a new era," Tung said.
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