Chinatrust Brothers
| Chinatrust Brothers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| League | Chinese Professional Baseball League | ||
| Location | Taichung | ||
| Ballpark | Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium | ||
| Year founded | 1989 | ||
| League championships | 1992, 1994, 2002, 2003, 2016 | ||
| Taiwan Series championships | 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 | ||
| Colors | Yellow | ||
| Playoff berths | 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 | ||
| Manager | Vacant | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
The Brother Elephants (Chinese: 中信兄弟), nicknamed Brothers and also known as the Chinatrust Brothers due to ownership reasons, are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. The team was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 1989. Brother Hotel's chairman Hung Teng-sheng (洪騰勝) also acted as CPBL's secretary-general from 1987 to 1991, and is respected as "father of the CPBL". The Brothers are currently owned by Hua Yi, a subdivision of CTBC Holding.
With its long history from the amateur era plus a successful marketing strategy and management, the Brother Elephants has long been one of the most popular Taiwanese baseball teams. The team also won seven CPBL championships.
The team has always worn yellow uniforms. Its current home is in Taichung, with the home field at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
History
On March 17, 1990, the Brother Elephants played the first historical CPBL game against the Uni-President Lions in the now-demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium with a full house of 14,350 in attendance. These two teams are also the only two remaining original teams of the CPBL.
Despite having the best season-long record for the 2004 season, the Elephants were unable to participate in the Taiwan Series because they had won neither half-season. This resulted in the expansion of the playoffs to three teams beginning in 2005, where the team with the best season-long record among non-champions for the season would gain a wildcard berth, thus preventing a similar occurrence in the future.
In mid-season of 2008, GM Hung Je-he revealed the possibility of sale or disbanding of the organization if the financial deficit continued after 2009.
In the 2009 season, Brother Elephants were triumphant in winning the second half of the season. However, the team was affected deeply by the match fixing scandal which resulted in expulsion of many team players and the coach.
In October 2013, the team's president announced attempts to sell the team.[1] The announcement drew interest from seven potential bidders.[2] The team was sold to Hua Yi, a subdivision of CTBC Holding, by December 2013 for a price of NT$400 million.[3] The team's name change reflected their new corporate parent, but it was felt that the branding from their previous owners was strong enough to rename the team Brothers, while retaining the elephant mascot.[4]
Records
| Qualified for Playoffs | Taiwan Series Championship | Asia Series Championship |
Regular seasons
| Season | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brother Elephants | |||||
| 1990 | 34 (17/17) | 49 (25/24) | 7 (3/4) | .410 (.405/.415) | 4 (3/4) |
| 1991 | 38 (21/17) | 49 (23/26) | 3 (1/2) | .437 (.477/.395) | 3 (3/4) |
| 1992 | 51 (27/24) | 35 (17/18) | 4 (1/3) | .593 (.614/.571) | 1 (1/1) |
| 1993 | 52 (28/24) | 36 (16/20) | 2 (1/1) | .591 (.636/.545) | 2 (1/2) |
| 1994 | 64 (34/30) | 24 (11/13) | 2 (0/2) | .727 (.756/.698) | 1 (1/1) |
| 1995 | 48 (25/23) | 51 (25/26) | 1 (0/1) | .485 (.500/.469) | 4 (3/3) |
| 1996 | 52 (29/23) | 43 (19/24) | 5 (2/3) | .547 (.604/.489) | 4 (2/4) |
| 1997 | 45 (23/22) | 44 (20/24) | 7 (5/2) | .506 (.535/.478) | 3 (3/5) |
| 1998 | 33 | 69 | 3 | 0.324 | 6 |
| 1999 | 37 | 53 | 4 | 0.411 | 5 |
| 2000 | 38 (21/17) | 48 (21/27) | 4 (3/1) | .442 (.500/.386) | 4 (3/4) |
| 2001 | 44 (17/27) | 39 (23/16) | 7 (5/2) | .530 (.425/.628) | 2 (3/1) |
| 2002 | 53 (25/28) | 33 (17/16) | 4 (3/1) | .616 (.595/.636) | 1 (1/1) |
| 2003 | 63 (27/36) | 31 (20/11) | 6 (3/3) | .670 (.574/.766) | 1 (3/1) |
| 2004 | 54 (26/28) | 45 (23/22) | 1 (1/0) | .545 (.531/.560) | 3 (3/2) |
| 2005 | 47 (25/22) | 49 (23/26) | 4 (2/2) | .490 (.521/.458) | 4 (3/6) |
| 2006 | 40 (20/20) | 59 (29/30) | 1 (1/0) | .404 (.408/.400) | 6 (5/6) |
| 2007 | 49 (24/25) | 50 (25/25) | 1 (1/0) | .495 (.490/.500) | 3 (4/4) |
| 2008 | 52 (24/28) | 42 (23/19) | 4 (3/1) | .553 (.511/.596) | 3 (3/3) |
| 2009 | 54 (21/33) | 63 (38/25) | 3 (1/2) | .462 (.356/.569) | 4 (4/1) |
| 2010 | 61 (25/36) | 57 (33/24) | 2 (2/0) | .517 (.431/.600) | 2 (3/1) |
| 2011 | 60 (28/32) | 60 (32/28) | 0 (0/0) | .500 (.467/.533) | 3 (3/2) |
| 2012 | 60 (26/34) | 58 (33/25) | 2 (1/1) | .508 (.441/.576) | 3 (3/2) |
| 2013 | 55 (26/29) | 65 (34/31) | 0 (0/0) | .458 (.433/.483) | 4 (4/3) |
| Total | 1184 | 1152 | 77 | .507 | — |
| Chinatrust Brothers | |||||
| 2014 | 50 (19/31) | 66 (40/26) | 4 (1/3) | .431 (.322/.544) | 4 (4/1) |
| 2015 | 63 (27/36) | 56 (33/23) | 1 (0/1) | .529 (.450/.610) | 2 (3/1) |
| 2016 | 68 (35/33) | 50 (23/27) | 2 (2/0) | .576 (.603/.550) | 1 (1/2) |
| Total | 181 | 172 | 7 | .512 | — |
Playoffs
| Season | First Round | Taiwan Series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Wins | Losses | Opponent | Wins | Losses | |
| Brother Elephants | ||||||
| 1992 | No playoffs. The Elephants won the championship by virtue of winning both half-seasons. | |||||
| 1993 | No first round. | Uni-President Lions | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1994 | No playoffs. The Elephants won the championship by virtue of winning both half-seasons. | |||||
| 2001 | No first round. | Uni-President Lions | 4 | 3 | ||
| 2002 | No first round. | Chinatrust Whales | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2003 | No first round. | Sinon Bulls | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2008 | La New Bears | 3 | 0 | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 3 | 4 |
| 2009 | No first round. | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 3 | 4 | ||
| 2010 | No first round. | Sinon Bulls | 4 | 0 | ||
| Total | Combining the first round and Taiwan Series | 26 | 15 | |||
| Chinatrust Brothers | ||||||
| 2014 | No first round. | Lamigo Monkeys | 1 | 4 | ||
| 2015 | No first round. | Lamigo Monkeys | 3 | 4 | ||
| 2016 | No first round. | EDA Rhinos | 2 | 4 | ||
| Total | Combining the first round and Taiwan Series | 6 | 12 | |||
Roster
| Chinatrust Brothers Roster | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||
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References
- ↑ Lin Hung-han and Sofia Wu (2013-10-19). "Brother Elephants up for sale (update 2)". Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ↑ Lin, Hung-han; Jeffrey Wu (2013-10-23). "Funeral services company to bid for pro-baseball team". Central News Agency. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ↑ Lin, Hung-han; Y.L. Kao (3 December 2013). "CTBC-sponsored company buys Brother Elephants for NT$400 m.". Central News Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ "Brief History of CPBL". Chinese Professional Baseball League. Archived from the original on 2015-07-04. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
External links
- Official website (Chinese)