The Taiwan Professional Baseball Players’ Association, the union representing the nation’s baseball professionals, yesterday said its members would stop playing in all competitions organized by the governing body, Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA), as a conflict over power and money boiled over into public mudslinging.
Union officials on Wednesday again accused the association of pocketing the proceeds from a series of exhibition games earlier this year, for which it said the players did not receive the promised appearance fee.
“There is mistrust between our organizations and the association has not made its finances public, therefore professional baseball players will no longer take part in domestic and international tournaments organized through the association,” union spokesman Chao Tzu-wei (趙子維) said.
Chao said there had been disputes with the association in the past, but the latest fight concerned three exhibition games played between Cuban and Taiwanese teams in February as warm-up games for the World Baseball Classic tournament in March.
“The CTBA sold tickets and television broadcast rights for the three exhibition games with Cuba played in Taiwan. There were also corporate sponsorships and merchandise sales,” Chao said.
The union reached an agreement with the association that the latter would publish its accounts and pay the players part of the proceeds, Chao said.
“The promised payment did not materialize, but rather it went to subsidize the CTBA’s expenditures on the national team’s participation in the World Baseball Classic. Our union executives were very upset by this and decided to not to participate in any future tournaments organized by CTBA,” Chao said.
“It is normal practice to organize warm-up games to prepare the players ahead of big international tournaments. If the union disagrees with this practice, then we can make adjustments,” CTBA secretary-general Richard Lin (林宗成) said.
“The CTBA did not exploit the players, nor did we disregard their rights. If we did anything the union found wanting, then we can make changes,” Lin said.
Taiwan’s professional baseball league, the Chinese Professional Baseball League, has agreed to take up the responsibility for the training and preparation of the national team for the World Premier 12, Summer Olympics and World Baseball Classic, Lin added.
Sports Administration Director-General Lin Te-fu (林德福) said he would talk to both parties in hopes that they would come to an understanding.
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