Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium () is a stadium in Beitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. The stadium officially opened on November 9, 2006, replacing the antiquated

Taichung Baseball Field The Taichung Baseball Field () is a multi-purpose stadium in North District, Taichung, North District, Taichung, Taiwan. Built in 1935 during the Taiwan under Japanese rule era, this stadium has been repeatedly refurbished and currently can seat ...

. Located on the corner of Chongde Road (崇德路) and Huanzhong Road (環中路), it has considerably more parking available than the old stadium. The stadium is a venue for rock concerts and also hosted Zhang Yimou's Turandot at the Bird's Nest in 2010.

Construction

Construction on the stadium began in 2005 and is operating on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model that is becoming increasingly common among public works projects in Taiwan. The first phase includes 15,000 infield seats, all with seatback chairs. After the second phase was completed in 2008, seating capacity was expanded to 20,000 by adding 5,000 outfield seats.

Major events

The first major event hosted by the new stadium was the

2006 Intercontinental Cup The 2006 IBAF Intercontinental Cup was held in Taichung, Taiwan from November 9 through the 19th. Eight countries contested the tournament, which was played at Taichung Baseball Field and the newly built Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium ...

, a baseball competition between eight nations from four different continents. South Korea defeated

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in the opener 10–0, followed by

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 ...

's defeat against Italy 3–13 on November 9. On the final day of the

it was announced that the

2007 Baseball World Cup The 2007 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 37th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

will be held in Taichung, with this stadium one of the two to be used for the tournament. The stadium also hosted some games at the

2007 Asian Baseball Championship The 24th Asian Baseball Championship was contested in Taichung, Taiwan in November and December 2007. The tournament is sanctioned by the Asian Baseball Federation. The winner of the tournament will gain automatic entry into the 2008 Olympic Games ...

, which counted as the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

qualifier for the Asia region. The stadium hosted the Pool B in the first round of the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike ...

. The stadium hosted the Group A and Quarterfinals of the

2015 WBSC Premier12 The 2015 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the inaugural event of the WBSC Premier12. It was held from November 8 to 21 in Taiwan and Japan. The South Korean ...

. The ballpark has hosted a number of games of the

Asia Winter Baseball League The Asia Winter Baseball League is a professional baseball league hosted in Taiwan with 2012 as its inaugural season. Making use of the warm and dry winter climate in West Taiwan, the short term league aims to offer young baseball players addition ...

, most recently in November/December 2018 The stadium hosted the Pool B in the first round of the

2019 WBSC Premier12 The 2019 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship ...

. The stadium hosted the Pool A in the first round of the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international professional baseball tournament, is set to be the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It was originally set for 2021 (as per tradition to hold the event every four years), but wa ...

World Baseball City

Due to the success of

, Taichung City Government and Chinese Taipei Baseball Association start striving to hold various of international events in following years. The stadium had hosted 10 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) events in first 10 years since the stadium had established. IBAF awarded the World Baseball City medal during the opening ceremony of

2013 18U Baseball World Cup The 2013 18U Baseball World Cup was an international baseball competition held in Taichung and Yunlin (Douliu), Taiwan from August 30 to September 8, 2013. There were no games played on August 30 and August 31, due to rain. Medalists Teams Th ...

in order to appreciate the contribution that Taichung City Government had done. Taichung City became the first city to be awarded by IBAF. The World Baseball City stele was also erected at the stadium entrance.

Name confusion

From the beginning of this project, the stadium had been known as the Taichung International Standard Baseball Stadium. However, newspaper reports had referred to it as the Taichung International Baseball Stadium, (dropping the word "Standard".) A Chinese language schedule for the

had identified the stadium as the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium. According to a report in 2006, the mayor of Taichung, Jason Hu, announced that the name of the stadium has been officially designated as Intercontinental Baseball Stadium. This is in honor of the event being the first to be held at the stadium.

Miscellaneous

Stadium firsts

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium01

*First competitive game: South Korea vs. Philippines; November 9, 2006, as part of the

. *First win: South Korea 10 – Philippines 0; November 9, 2006, 2006 Intercontinental Cup *First mercy rule win: South Korea 10 – Philippines 0; November 9, 2006; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *First nine-inning shutout: *First extra-inning game: Chinese Taipei vs. South Korea; November 12, 2006; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *First home run:

Bradley Harman Bradley Christopher Harman (born 19 November 1985) is an Australian former professional baseball second baseman. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies. Professional career Born Bradley Christopher ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) (8th inning vs. Philippines); November 10, 2006;

*First grand slam: Chen Yung-Chi (

) (7th inning vs. South Korea); November 12, 2006; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *First

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

Stadium records

*Longest game: 13 innings – Italy vs. Australia; November 12, 2006;

*Runs in a game (Single Team): 13 – Italy vs. Chinese Taipei; November 9, 2006;Italy vs. Chinese Taipei
/ref> Netherlands v. South Korea, November 15, 2006

*Runs in a game (Combined): 16 – Italy (13) vs. Chinese Taipei (3) ; November 9, 2006: and Chinese Taipei (9) v. South Korea (7); September 12, 2006 ; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Runs in an inning (Single Team): 6 – Italy (3rd inning) vs. Chinese Taipei, November 9, 2006; Australia (8th inning) v. the Philippines, November 10, 2006 ; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Runs in an inning (Combined): 6 – Italy vs. Chinese Taipei (3rd inning), November 9, 2006 ; Australia v. the Philippines (8th inning), November 10, 2006 ; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Runs in a game (Single Player): 2 – Numerous times * RBIs in a game (Single Player): 7 – Jack Murphy, ABL Canberra Cavalry vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions; 20 November 2013;Canberra Cavalry wins Asia Series
David Polkinghorne,

Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

, 21 November 2013

2013 Asia Series The 2013 Asia Series was the seventh and final edition of the Asia Series, the premier Asian club baseball tournament, and the ninth time national champions from Asian leagues have competed against each other. The tournament was held in Taichung ...

final (won 14–4 with Murphy hitting a Grand Slam Home run in the 8th inning) *Hits in a game (Single Team): 19 - Italy vs. Chinese Taipei; November 9, 2006; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Hits in a game (Combined): 29 – Italy (19) vs. Chinese Taipei (10); November 9, 2006 ; Australia (10) v. South Korea (9) November 14, 2006 - 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Hits in a game (Single Player): 3 – Numerous times *

Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in a game (Pitching Staff): 12 – Cuba vs. Netherlands; November 19, 2006 2006 Intercontinental Cup *Strikeouts in a game (Single Pitcher): 8 – Frank Montieh (Cuba) vs. Netherlands; November 19, 2006 ; 2006 Intercontinental Cup

Notes

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References

* 洲際盃: 11月台中開打 (Intercontinental Cup: Begins in November in Taichung.) 自由時報 (Liberty Times.) October 5, 2006. Page A10 * Development map published by the Taichung Municipal Government in October, 2005. * *

External links

*
Webpage on stadium from Taichung City Government's website
{{2023 World Baseball Classic Stadiums Baseball venues in Taiwan Buildings and structures in Taichung Sport in Taichung Sports venues completed in 2006 2006 establishments in Taiwan World Baseball Classic venues