1997 CPBL

The 1997 Chinese Professional Baseball League season was the 8th season for the Chinese Professional Baseball League and the league faced its first major challenges. The Taiwan Major League set itself up as a rival and a few CPBL stars jumped to the new league, such a two-time MVP Yi-Hsin Chen. Meanwhile, other stars were caught in a gambling scandal, the "Black Eagles incident" which severely depleted the China Times Eagles. Among those whose careers came to an end were the other two-time MVP, Chin-Hsing Kuo, 1992 Olympian Chi-Hsin Chen, former home run leader Ming-Hsiung Liao, two-time save leader Chien-Cheng Kuo, 1992 Olympian Kuo-Chian Ku, hit record holder Kuei-Chang Tseng, 1988 Olympian Hung-Chin Tu and 1992 Olympian Kuang-Shih Wang. Seven players were abducted in August and held by gangsters who had lost money during the scandal. The Eagles still made it to the 1997 Taiwan Series (thanks to a strong first half before the suspensions and second-half collapse), where they fell to the Wei Chuan Dragons.

The league expanded to 7 teams with the addition of the Chinatrust Whales (who would implode in another gambling scandal the next decade). Bernie Tatis shattered the league's stolen base record, topping the old mark by 24 by swiping 71 bases. Enrique Burgos won his fourth strikeout title in the league's 8 seasons, only 5 of which he had been present for. Foreign player limits were eliminated altogether; the lack of local players caused an attendance drop-off of 55%.

Standings

1. Uni-President Lions, 28-16-4 first half; 30-15-3 second half
2. Wei Chuan Dragons, 15-31-2 first half; 31-15-2 second half
3. Mercuries Tigers, 22-22-4 first half; 24-22-2 second half
4. Sinon Bulls, 20-26-2 first half; 25-22-1 second half
5. Brother Elephants, 29-19-2 first half; 23-24-3 second half
6. China Times Eagles, 30-16-2 first half; 11-35-2 second half
7. Chinatrust Whales, 20-27-1 first half; 19-29 second half

Leaders

Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants	.373
Runs	Juan Bell	Sinon Bulls	85
Hits	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants	139
Doubles	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants	32
Triples	Ted Wood Chuang-Chen Chueh	Brother Elephants Chinatrust Whales	5
Home Runs	Boi Rodrigues	Uni-President Lions	27
Runs Batted In	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants	94
Stolen Bases	Bernie Tatis	Wei Chuan Dragons	71
Walks	Boi Rodrigues	Uni-President Lions	64

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
ERA	Mike Garcia	Wei Chuan Dragons	1.89
Wins	Chun-Liang Wu	Uni-President Lions	15
Losses	Cipriano Ventura	Chinatrust Whales	12
Saves	Mike Garcia	Wei Chuan Dragons	20
Innings Pitched	Chun-Liang Wu	Uni-President Lions	184 1/3
Appearances	Danilo León	China Times Eagles	52
Hits Allowed	Rafael Montalvo	China Times Eagles	212
Home Runs Allowed	Jose Martinez	China Times Eagles	19
Strikeouts	Enrique Burgos	Brother Elephants	177
Base-on-Balls	Osvaldo Martínez	Sinon Bulls	71

Award Winners

Award	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	Mike Garcia	Wei Chuan Dragons	P	Did not bat									7 - 4	20	104.2	87	5	26	128	1.89
Rookie of the Year	Chuang-Chen Chueh	Chinatrust Whales	OF	353	53	93	0	31	31	.263	.317	.348	Did not pitch

Best Ten

The following players were part of the 1997 Best Ten teams.

Position	Player	Team
P	Chun-Liang Wu	Uni-President Lions
C	Chi-Chen Tseng	Uni-President Lions
1B	Kuang-Huei Wang	Brother Elephants
2B	Chung-Yi Huang	Sinon Bulls
3B	Hector Roa	Uni-President Lions
SS	Juan Bell	Sinon Bulls
OF	Boi Rodrigues	Uni-President Lions
OF	Chu-Ming Lee	Brother Elephants
OF	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 1997.

Position	Player	Team
P	Yi-Chuan Liu	Mercuries Tigers
C	Chi-Chen Tseng	Uni-President Lions
1B	Tsung-Hui Tong	Mercuries Tigers
2B	Chung-Yi Huang	Sinon Bulls
3B	Hector Roa	Uni-President Lions
SS	Kuo-Chong Lo	Uni-President Lions
OF	Tian-Lin Chang	Sinon Bulls
OF	Chiung-Lung Huang	Wei Chuan Dragons
OF	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants

Sources include 1998 Baseball Almanac, CPBL website, Taiwan Baseball Wiki