The Wei Chuan Dragons were a professional baseball

Professional baseball

Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

 team in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

's CPBL that existed between 1990 and 1999.

Brief history

This team had a long amateur history when its parent company, the Wei-Chuan Food Corporation

Wei-Chuan Food Corporation

Wei-Chuan Food Corporation 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

Chinese Culture University

Chinese Culture University is a private, Taiwanese university located on Yang Ming Mountain in the Shilin District of Taipei, Taiwan. CCU was established in 1962 and is one of the largest universities in Taiwan with an enrollment of about 32,000 students...

's baseball team in 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 Chinese Professional Baseball League

Chinese Professional Baseball League

The Chinese Professional Baseball League , or CPBL, is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2003...

 (CPBL). Because of its long Amateur history, its games often drew large attendances, and games with Brother Elephants

Brother Elephants

The Brother Elephants are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. It 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 in 1989...

, another popular team, were often sold-out. This team took the now-demolished Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium

Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium

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-President Lions and Brother Elephants...

 as its home throughout its history.

This club won CPBL championships 4 times in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and became the team with most CPBL championships after the 1999 season ended. However, just as a Dragons Dynasty seemly to form, Wei Chuan Food Corporation announced its decision to disband this club at that time, 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
• Wei Chuan Food Corporation was absorbed by the China-based Ting Hsin International Group in 1998, and this Ting Hsin corporation did not show high interest in supporting a 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

Sinon Bulls

Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...

 or Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala. CPBL also did not fine those former Wei Chuan players and coaches who returned with Macoto Gida and First Financial Holdings Agan before the 2003 season started, because they did not leave CPBL voluntarily.

Records

Qualified for playoffs

Taiwan Series Taiwan Series Taiwan Series is the championship series of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. It is usually played in October, after the regular season. It was formerly known as the CPBL Seasonal Championship Series , and was renamed the Taiwan Series after the merger of the Chinese Professional Baseball...  Championship

Regular Seasons

Season	First Half-Season					Second Half-Season
	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.	Place
1990	25	20	0	.556	2	27	14	4	.659	1
1991	26	17	2	.605	1	20	19	6	.513	2
1992	23	20	2	.535	2	18	22	5	.450	4
1993	26	19	0	.578	2	22	21	2	.512	3
1994	17	27	1	.386	5	19	25	1	.432	4
1995	25	25	0	.500	3	22	27	1	.449	5
1996	25	23	2	.521	4	30	20	0	.600	1
1997	15	31	2	.326	7	31	15	2	.674	1
1998	56	48	1	.538	3	No half-seasons
1999	49	39	4	.557	3

Playoffs

Season	First Round			Taiwan Series
	Opponent	Wins	Losses	Opponent	Wins	Losses
1990	No first round			Mercuries Tigers Mercuries Tigers The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...	4	2
1991	No first round			Uni-President Lions Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions are a professional baseball team based in Tainan City, Taiwan. The organization is named after the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate whose sub-company Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team...	3	4
1996	No first round			Uni-President Lions Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions are a professional baseball team based in Tainan City, Taiwan. The organization is named after the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate whose sub-company Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team...	2	4
1997	No first round			China Times Eagles China Times Eagles The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:...	4	2
1998	Uni-President Lions Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions are a professional baseball team based in Tainan City, Taiwan. The organization is named after the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate whose sub-company Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team...	2	1	Sinon Bulls Sinon Bulls Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping...	4	3
1999	Uni-President Lions Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions are a professional baseball team based in Tainan City, Taiwan. The organization is named after the Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerate whose sub-company Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team...	2	1	Chinatrust Whales Chinatrust Whales The Chinatrust Whales , formerly Koos Group Whales , were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Originally founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 1997. It is administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding...	4	1

Notable former players

• José Canó
  José Canó
  Joselito "José" Canó Soriano is a former pitcher who briefly pitched in Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros in .-Career:...
  
  
• Silvestre Campusano
• Chang Tai-Shan
  Chang Tai-Shan
  Chang Tai-shan, , is a Taiwanese professional baseball player. Originally drafted by the Wei Chuan Dragons in 1996, he has been playing for the Sinon Bulls since 2000 after the Dragons' dissolution in 1999...
  
  
• Huang Ping-yang
• Joe Strong
  Joe Strong
  Joseph Benjamin Strong is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Florida Marlins from to ....
  
  
• Freddie Toliver
  Freddie Toliver
  Fred Lee Toliver , is a retired Major League Baseball player who played pitcher from –. He would play for the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, and Pittsburgh Pirates....
  
  
• ((Jim Aylward))

See also

• The Black Eagles Incident
• China Times Eagles
  China Times Eagles
  The China Times Eagles was a defunct professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League that existed between 1993 and 1997.-History:...
  
  
• Mercuries Tigers
  Mercuries Tigers
  The Mercuries Tigers were a professional baseball team belonging to Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League between 1990 and 1999.-History:...