Brother Elephants fans began rallying in front of the team’s Taipei dormitory yesterday morning in a show of support for the beleaguered baseball team, whose fate is up in the air amid a game-fixing scandal involving several of its players.
The fans waved posters and launched a signature drive for a petition to the team’s owners to keep the team alive. They urged the government to cherish good players and weed out bad apples.
Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) met Brother Elephants Baseball Club general manager Hung Jui-ho (洪瑞河) yesterday to discuss the crisis facing one of the nation’s oldest professional baseball teams.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hung said on Thursday night that the club would not extend its contracts with former Major League pitcher Tsao Chin-hui (曹錦輝) and team manager Nakagomi Shin.
Tsao, Shin and several other team members are under investigation for game-fixing.
Tai said yesterday the council would do everything it could to save the Elephants and the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). She said fans would still be able to watch local professional baseball next year.
PHOTO: CNA
The council would try to find companies willing to take over the Elephants if the current sponsor decided to dismiss the team, she said.
Hong said the government must take a more active role in helping foster a healthy environment for professional baseball.
“The team doesn’t have the authority to go after organized crime. All we can do is try to resolve the problems of our players,” Hong said. “It is up to the government to decide whether the Brother Elephants can continue.”
Speaking to the fans gathered outside the dorm late last night, Hong expressed optimism, saying the Elephants would “not easily be disbanded,” and criticized prosecutors for overzealousness.
“Even if the Brother Elephants do not disappear, the prosecution will make sure we do,” he said.
In a separate annoucement, the team terminated the contracts of pitchers Wang Jin-li (王勁力), Wu Pao-hsien (吳保賢) and Chu Hung-sheng (朱鴻森) and Li Hao-ren (李濠任) yesterday for their alleged involvement in the gambling ring.
Earlier in the day, Wang went to the Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office to hand over more than NT$100,000 he allegedly received for fixing games.
Wang and Wu, both of whom have been listed as defendants, have confessed to fixing games and soliciting other team members to take money to fix games. Prosecutors confirmed that Wang and Wu went to their office to return the money.
Wang’s confession may be one of the reasons the district court did not detain him.
La New Bears player Chang Chih-chia (張誌家) has reportedly admitted accepting a Mercedes-Benz and NT$1 million (US$30,800) from Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), the alleged head of the “Windshield Wipers” gang and Tsai’s middlemen, although prosecutors have declined to confirm the report.
Prosecutors have listed 10 players as defendants, including Chang, Tsao and Hsieh Chia-hsien (謝佳賢) of the Sinon Bulls. In a sign the probe was widening, investigators and prosecutors brought Brother Elephants pitcher Huang Jung-yi (黃榮義) in for questioning yesterday.
This is the fifth time in 20 years that pro baseball players in Taiwan have been investigated for throwing games.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Justin Chou (周守訓) said yesterday the caucus has proposed amending the Criminal Code to toughen punishment for those who entice or force players to cheat.
People who are found to have coerced or enticed players in a bid to influence the outcome of a game will face jail terms of between three and 15 years and a maximum fine of NT$30 million if the legislature passes the proposal, he said.
Those who run illegal sports gambling operations could face up to 10 years in prison and NT$10 million in fines if the amendment passes, Chou said, adding that he hoped to push through the amendment by the end of the current legislative session.
He said he could not bear to see the nation’s professional baseball league disappear.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
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