Each of Taiwan’s six special municipalities is to have a professional baseball team next year, as the CPBL yesterday announced that a Kaohsiung-based team run by Taiwan Steel Group (TSG) would start playing in the league’s second division and join the top flight in 2024.
“The glory era of Taiwan baseball is back,” CPBL commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told a ceremony in Taipei to introduce the TSG Hawks.
“This is a historic day. The TSG Hawks are joining our league as the newest franchise,” he said, adding that the Hawks would “bring more excitement” by adding a fifth competitor for each of
KAOHSIUNG EXPANSION: The TSG Hawks would be the conglomerate’s third team in the nation’s three major sports, conglomerate chairman Hsieh Yu-min saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Baseball officials on Friday said that a franchise formed by Taiwan Steel Group (TSG) would join the CPBL and be based in Kaohsiung.
TSG outbid Chunghwa Telecom, which had also applied for an expansion franchise in Taiwan’s professional baseball league.
CPBL commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that TSG’s application was accepted under the condition that it pay the franchise fee and submit a business plan, adding that the team’s management expects to submit those after a meeting of its owners in May.
It would join the mid-season players’ draft in July, Tsai said.
It would also hire coaches and staff, and upgrade its