Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium () is a stadium in

Beitun District Beitun District (; lit: northern camp) is a district in Taichung, Taiwan. Located in the northern part of the city, it is a half mountainous, half urban area. Though Beitun District used to be considered part of the countryside, the new Taiy ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

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 northe ...

. The stadium officially opened on November 9, 2006, replacing the antiquated Taichung Baseball Field. 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 concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The co ...

s and also hosted

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

'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 Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

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 Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile th ...

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

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 ...

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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

3–13 on November 9. On the final day of the 2006 Intercontinental Cup 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 th ...

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 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 ballpark has hosted a number of games of the Asia Winter Baseball League, most recently in November/December 2018 The stadium hosted the Pool B in the first round of the 2019 WBSC Premier12. The stadium hosted the Pool A in the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

World Baseball City

Due to the success of 2006 Intercontinental Cup, 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 The International Baseball Federation (IBAF; Spanish: ''Federación Internacional de Béisbol'', French: ''Fédération internationale de baseball'') is the former worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as ove ...

(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 2006 Intercontinental Cup had identified the stadium as the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium. According to a report in 2006, the mayor of

Jason Hu Jason Hu (; born 15 May 1948) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the mayor of Taichung as provincial city in 2001-2010 and as special municipality in 2010–2014. He is a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), and has been the Vice Chairman of the p ...

, 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 2006 Intercontinental Cup. *First win: South Korea 10 – Philippines 0; November 9, 2006, 2006 Intercontinental Cup *First

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called t ...

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 In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

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) (8th inning vs. Philippines); November 10, 2006; 2006 Intercontinental Cup *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—pit ...

Stadium records

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

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

s 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 final (won 14–4 with Murphy hitting a Grand Slam

Home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

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 * Strikeouts 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