Taiwanese star Chang Tai-shan on Saturday ended his stellar career in memorable fashion by hitting a grand slam in his final trip to the plate for the Adelaide Bite in the Australian Baseball League (ABL).
In the season-ending game with the bases loaded in the eighth, Chang in his last at-bat drilled an offering from Sydney Blue Sox pitcher Liam Holm over the left-field fence, sending his teammates to the plate before savoring his own cross.
Chang’s grand slam stretched Adelaide’s lead to 8-1 and ended the record-holder’s career in Taiwan’s CPBL, as it was known that the 41-year-old would retire at the end of the ABL season.
Saturday was the last day of the season for Adelaide, as they did not make the playoffs. They were playing a two-game series at home at Active Displays Stadium.
They took the first contest 3-0, but the pressure was on Chang to deliver after going hitless seven times at bat.
Chang broke down in tears as he rounded home plate and was warmly embraced by his teammates and coaches.
Video of Chang’s homer can be viewed on the ABL’s Web site.
The MLB’s official Web site Cut4 also featured the video with the headline “CPBL legend Chang Tai-shan went out in style with a grand slam in his final at-bat,” and heaped praise for “ending his career in the most fitting way possible.”
The Taiwanese legend holds the record for most CPBL championship rings at seven, and won with three different teams: the Weichuan Dragons (1997 to 1999), the Sinon Bulls (2003 to 2004) and the Uni-President Lions (2011 and 2013).
He still holds CPBL records for career home runs (289), hits (2,134), RBIs (1,338), runs scored (1,075) and games played (1,863).
In other local baseball news, the Popcorn League wrapped up last week, when Taiwan Cooperative Bank on Friday blanked Taipei 6-0 to claim the championship in a three-game sweep.
In the final game at Tianmu Stadium in Taipei, slugger Lin Chu-chieh hit a two-run homer, providing scoring support for starting pitcher Wu Sheng-feng, who sailed through six innings.
Wu was named MVP of the series after an outstanding performance in the first game on Tuesday, when he yielded only one run in five innings, although he did not figure into the decision in the late 3-2 victory.
The bankers surged ahead of Taipei 4-2 on Wednesday, then kept their streak going to shut out Taipei in the best-of-five finals.
“We had a good run this year, with the veterans giving guidance to young players. Someone always came through at pivotal times to help the team win throughout the season and in the finals,” head coach Hsu Shun-yi said.
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS