The Wei Chuan Dragons () are a

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 ...

team in Taiwan's

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 ...

(CPBL) that originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations regarding the franchise's revival and return to the CPBL took place. The team played one season of minor league baseball in 2020 and rejoined the CPBL in 2021.

History

Wei Chuan Dragons had a long amateur history when its parent company, the

Wei Chuan Foods Corporation Wei Chuan Foods () is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of Chinese condiments, canned goods, drinks, and frozen goods. Its more popular, widely recognized products include canned pickles, soy sauce and oyster sauces, and frozen dumplings and wontons ...

, started sponsoring

Chinese Culture University The Chinese Culture University (CCU; ) is a private Taiwanese university located in Yangmingshan in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. CCU was established in 1962 and is one of the largest universities in Taiwan with an enrollment of about 32,000 ...

's baseball team in the late 1970s. After these student players graduated, Wei-Chuan formed an amateur team to allow them to continue playing baseball in 1978; it was this team that later professionalized to become one of the first four teams of the

(CPBL). Due to the club's long history in the amateur era, its matches often attracted large crowds, and games with 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 ...

, another popular team, were often sold out. The team played at the now-demolished

Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium The Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium () was a baseball park located in the Songshan District of Taipei, Taiwan. It was opened in 1959, and hosted numerous major baseball games over the years, including the CPBL's first game in 1990 between Uni ...

. The club won CPBL championships four times, in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and became the team with most CPBL championships after the 1999 season ended. After the 1999 season, Wei Chuan Food Corporation announced its decision to disband the club, mainly due to threats from local criminal gangs (Wei Chuan Dragons's then manager Hsu Sheng-ming was attacked in April 1999), the financial loss brought about by CPBL's game-fixing scandals since 1996, and the

Ting Hsin International Group Ting Hsin International Group () is a Taiwanese-owned corporate group established in 1958. It owns various food brands such as the instant noodle maker Master Kong, Wei-Chuan Food Corporation and Dicos. History Taipei 101 and noodles The compa ...

becoming the largest (40%) shareholder of Wei Chuan Food Corporation in 1998, as the new Ting Hsin management did not show high interest in supporting the baseball club. The disbandment shocked many local fans and a procession was even raised against the decision. However, the Wei Chuan Food Corporation did not change its mind. Most Wei Chuan Dragons' coaches and players later found their new homes at

Sinon Bulls In Greek mythology, Sinon (Ancient Greek: Σίνων, from the verb "σίνομαι"—''sinomai'', "to harm, to hurt") or Sinopos, was a Greek warrior during the Trojan War. Family Sinon was the son of Aesimus, son of Autolycus. He was th ...

Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala The Rakuten Monkeys (), formerly First Financial Holdings Agan (, abbreviated ), La New Bears () and then the Lamigo Monkeys (), are a professional baseball team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. Owned and administer ...

. CPBL also did not fine those former Wei Chuan players and coaches who returned with Macoto Gida and

First Financial Holdings Agan First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

before the 2003 season started, because they did not leave CPBL voluntarily.

Records

Regular seasons Playoffs

Roster

Notes

: First half-season champions : Second half-season champions

References

External links

Wei Chuan Dragons official website
{{Taipei Sports Chinese Professional Baseball League teams Baseball teams established in 1989 1989 establishments in Taiwan 1999 disestablishments in Taiwan Baseball teams disestablished in 1999 2019 establishments in Taiwan Baseball teams established in 2019