This past weekend, over 62,000 people were in attendance for the events of the Chinese Professional Baseball League All-Star Weekend.
There, they were treated to events such as the CPBL Home Run Derby, skills challenges, as well as two All-Star Games, with the second featuring CPBL legends returning to the diamond.
Steven Moya of the TSG Hawks won the Home Run Derby when he hit 18 home runs in the final round. Moya, a native of Puerto Rico, spent time from 2014-16 with the Detroit Tigers in the MLB and is in his first season with the Hawks. He has 19 home runs this season for his squad and hit 41 total in the Home Run Derby in order to become the winner.
More than 30,000 fans packed into the Taipei Dome on Saturday for the All-Star Game, an attendance record. The game was between Team Taiwan and the CPBL All-Stars, with Lin An-Ko blasting a two-run home run to right in the top of the third inning to help Team Taiwan take control early. He received the MVP award for the first game, which Team Taiwan won 3-2.
Lin struck again in the second game, driving in a run in the eighth inning to give Team Taiwan a 2-1 lead. Giljegiljaw Kungkuan had a two-run home run that sealed the game for Team Taiwan and Lin earned his second MVP in two games.
The end of the second All-Star Game gave the CPBL’s fans an incredible moment. In the ninth inning with two outs and the score 4-1 in favor of Team Taiwan, baseball legends from both coaching staffs took the field, with former New York Yankee and 2006 Cy Young runner-up Chien-Ming Wang taking the mound for Taiwan to face three batters.
The first batter was I-Chung Hong, the winningest manager in CPBL history. Wang got Hong to hit a ground ball to second, and he reached base on the miscure.The second batter, Chen Chin-Feng, a CPBL legend and manager of the Fubon Guardians who spent time in the MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Wang hit Chen on the arm with a pitch, causing both benches to playfully empty for a group photo. The third batter, Cheng-Min Peng, farm director for CTBC Brothers, and one of the best hitters in CPBL history, doubled to left, and Wang pulled himself from the game.
The fans then cheered as Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions manager Yueh-Ping Lin came in to pitch, with Wei Chuan Dragons manager Chun-Chang Yeh catching for him. The pair had to face off against another legendary CPBL Old-Timer in Chang Chien-Ming, an assistant coach for Yeh’s Dragons.
Chang was the final out of the game, and Team Taiwan took the second All-Star Game by a score of 4-1 in a contest where fans were treated to gifts of nostalgia and great baseball.
