add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Uni-poise and Color Series Uni-poise Canes - UNI-POISE CANE, brite finish sinamedix.com | Orthodontists in Eleven Mile Corner, AZ - Braces in Arizona, Eleven Mile... orthopages.com |
The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (traditional Chinese: 統一獅) are a professional baseball team based in Tainan City, the second largest city in southern Taiwan. The organization is owned by the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate whose sub-company Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team. The Lions play their home games at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium located in Tainan City, where they enjoy a large fan base.
[edit] History[edit] Amateur EraThe team was first established as amateur Uni-President Baseball Team (traditional Chinese: 統一棒球隊) in 1989 for the purpose of training and preparation for eventual professionalization in the next year. The corporation originally intended to recruit players from Taipower Baseball Team, an amateur baseball team based in nearby Kaohsiung, but faced many difficulties in the process. Uni-President originally offered Lin Chia-hsiang (traditional Chinese: 林家祥) the position of team manager, hoping that his status as Taipower's head coach would ensure players' willingness to join the new team. Lin accepted at first, and agreed to aid the effort of recruiting players. However, due to uncertainties in a professional career, players were reluctant to leave Taipower for the new team, and Lin could only secure a few players and was far below the 15 players minimum requirement of the amateur league. Lin then turned down the offer, leaving Uni-President searching for a replacement for the manager position. Uni-President eventually contacted Cheng Kuen-chi (traditional Chinese: 鄭昆吉) and offered him the position. Cheng, a former coach of Taipower who was respected by many players, accepted the offer and became the first manager for Uni-President. Cheng then used his connection to convince players to join the team, and Uni-President barely met the minimum requirement after Brother baseball team lent players to Uni-President. The team then participated and performed modestly in two amateur series in 1989. [edit] Early yearsThe team was professionalized on January 1, 1990, following the establishment of CPBL. Uni-President chose Lions as its mascot, and hence the team was renamed Uni-President Lions. The Lions played the opening game of CPBL on March 17, 1990 with Brother Elephants in the now demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium, defeated the Elephants, and scored their first victory in professional baseball.[1] However, the Lions performed poorly in their first professional season, placed third and only saved by Brother Elephants's even poorer performance. The season of 1991 saw significant improvements in the Lions' performance. The Lions were able to advance into the playoffs and play Wei Chuan Dragons, who they defeated four games to two and won their first seasonal title. The next three years saw the dominance of the Elephants, who won three consecutive seasonal titles from 1992 to 1994, and defeated the Lions four game to two in the 1993 playoffs. It was during these years that the Lions and Elephants developed a long-lasting rivalry. In the 1995 season, 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 effective 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 the seasonal title in 1995 and 1996 after defeating Dragons four games to two in the 1996 playoffs. [edit] Black Eagles Scandal and TMLThe 1997 season was not a smooth sails as many has expected, the Lions started out losing some prominent players to Taiwan Major League. Also, the game-fixing scandal in mid-season of 1997, known as the Black Eagles Scandal, was a major blow to the Lions and the league in general. 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 impacts, and was only prevented from winning the season title by a loophole in the regulation. At the end of 1997 season, the Lions led the league with 58-7-31, while the Dragons (46-4-46) and the Eagles (41-4-51) were placed third and fourth respectively. However, the regulation dictated that the playoffs should be played by the team that led 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 placed first in both half-seasons, and thus allowed to participate in the championship series. The loophole became obvious when the Dragons, placed seventh in the first half but first in the second half, and the Eagles, placed first in the first half and seventh in the second half, got a berth in the playoffs. The loophole was fixed in the following year. [edit] PresentThe merger of the two competing leagues in 2003 brought the number of teams in CPBL to six, but had little affect on the Lions. The Lions were able to make consecutive appearance in the playoffs from 2004 to 2008, and won the 2007 and 2008 Taiwan Series. On February 22, 2008, Uni-President Corporation submitted a name-change request to CPBL to change the name of the team to Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. 7-Eleven in Taiwan is a subsidiary of Uni-President Corporation, and the Lions expects closer corporation between the two. The request was granted before the season began. [edit] Organization[edit] Minor league The Lions were credited as the first organization to form a minor league team. As early as 1990, when CPBL was still in its early years, the Lions were making preparation for establishment of a second team by hiring coaches and scouting talented players for the project. The reserve team, however, was disbanded due to lack of opponent and players. In 1997, the Lions again formed a reserve 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 assisted CPBL in forming a minor league by sending alternative service players to be trained by and filled the roster of member organizations of CPBL. The Lions were supportive of this project initially, but later backed out due to financial reasons. However, in early 2006, the Lions announced the revival of the minor league project, and began the expansion of the team. The roster consists of reserve players, alternative service players, and non-contract players. Alternative service players and non-contract players are restricted to play exclusively on the second team. [edit] Foreign cooperationThe 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. Also, the Lions have participated in many friendly exhibition games with teams from other professional organizations. It has played teams from Japan, Korea, the United States, and even Cuba in its history. [edit] Notable AchievementsThe Lions are the holders of many CPBL records. The most well-known is the winning streak of 17 games, which took place in 2006 season. The Lions are currently holding the records as the team with the most wins, home runs, and playoffs appearances throughout its history. [edit] Records
[edit] Regular Seasons
[edit] Playoffs
[edit] Asia Series
[edit] Roster[edit] Current Roster
[edit] List of Managers
[edit] Notable Former Players
[edit] See also
[edit] External links[edit] References
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
