Liao Yu-cheng (; born 4 September 1980 in Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City),

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

) is a former Taiwanese

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who played for the

Brother Elephants A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

. Liao was a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

pitcher and was given the nickname Golden Submarine due to Brother Elephant's yellow uniform.

Early life

In senior high school Liao was originally an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

until the team's pitching coach noticed him throw a 93 mph fastball and encouraged him to become a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. In the 2004 CPBL Draft,

La New Bears LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

and Macoto Cobras noticed Liao pitch up to 88 mph with a sidearm delivery and both teams welcomed Liao to enter the Draft. With no other teams attentions,

picked up Liao in the first round of draft.

Professional career

In his first career season, Liao pitched only one game: three innings earning two runs. The Elephants were ready to release Liao; and the Bears were ready to claim him however the 2005 manager convinced the team to keep Liao; he thought that Liao could be an excellent pitcher and just needed a chance. In the 2006 season, the pitching coach made Liao a starting pitcher. On May 10, 2007 Liao got his first career win in CPBL. In the 2008 CPBL season, he gained the ERA Championship Award and the Most Progressive Award. Liao later participated in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

and showed up in the

Round 1 Round 1 may refer to: * ''Round 1'' (EP), a 2011 EP by C-REAL * "Round 1" (song), a 2010 song by Dalmatian * ''Round 1'', an album by Eraser vs Yöjalka * Round One Entertainment , stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. ...

Pool A match between

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the eventual runner-up. He was allowed one point in his 3-inning pitching and his performance was praised by South Korean

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Kim In-Sik. After the

2009 Taiwan Series The 2009 Taiwan Series was played by Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions and Brother Elephants, winners of the first and second half-seasons. After seven games, the Lions defeated the Elephants four games to three and won the title. Participants *Uni- ...

Liao came under investigation for game fixing allegations. On January 6, 2010, Liao confessed to the Banciao District Prosecutors' Office that in 2007 when he was a minor player with only

NT$ The New Taiwan dollar (code: TWD; symbol: NT$, also abbreviated as NT) is the official currency of Taiwan. The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of Taiwan since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar, at a rate of 40,000 old dollars ...

55,000 (ca. USD$1,700) monthly salary, he accepted NT$600,000 (ca. USD$18,500) from gamblers and pitched one game for them. Liao also insisted that it was his only game-fixing activity throughout his career and because he later felt deeply uneasy for it, he donated NT$300,000 to local

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

s. As a result, Liao was expelled by the Brother Elephants, ending his short baseball career.Baseball stars indicted in latest game-fixing scandal
/ref> As of September 2010, Liao coaches in a club baseball team in his hometown of Taoyuan County.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liao, Yu-cheng 1980 births Living people Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Taoyuan City Brother Elephants players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Match fixers Taiwanese criminals Sportspeople convicted of crimes