1998 CPBL

The 1998 Chinese Professional Baseball League season was the 9th season for the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The league contracted to six teams with the China Times Eagles folding after a 1997 gambling scandal. The big story was Sinon Bulls slugger Jay Kirkpatrick, who won the league's first Triple Crown, setting records for average and RBI and tying the home run mark in the process. The Wei Chuan Dragons topped the Bulls, 4 games to 3, in the 1998 Taiwan Series, for their second straight title. With a continued lack of limits on foreign players this year, the Dragons did not get a single decision this season from a homegrown pitcher and 12 of the 14 hurlers on their staff were not from Taiwan.

Standings

1. Sinon Bulls, 58-45-2
2. Uni-President Lions, 57-45-3
3. Wei Chuan Dragons, 56-48-1
4. Chinatrust Whales, 54-49-2
5. Mercuries Tigers, 50-52-3
6. Brother Elephants, 33-69-3

Leaders

Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	.387
Runs	Bernie Tatis	Wei Chuan Dragons	98
Hits	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	137
Doubles	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants	33
Triples	Chuang-Chen Chueh	Chinatrust Whales	8
Home Runs	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	31
Runs Batted In	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	101
Stolen Bases	Bernie Tatis	Wei Chuan Dragons	65
Walks	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	97

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
ERA	Kevin Henthorne	Chinatrust Whales	2.09
Wins	Mark Kiefer	Sinon Bulls	17
Losses	Wen-Po Huang	Chinatrust Whales	13
Saves	Mike Garcia	Wei Chuan Dragons	26
Innings Pitched	Mark Kiefer	Sinon Bulls	195 1/3
Appearances	Tim Fortugno	Sinon Bulls	61
Hits Allowed	Osvaldo Martínez	Sinon Bulls	181
Home Runs Allowed	Jody Treadwell	Sinon Bulls	16
Strikeouts	Osvaldo Martínez	Sinon Bulls	175
Base-on-Balls	Lino Rivera	Mercuries Tigers	72

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	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls	IF	354	78	137	31	101	0	.387	.516	.732	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	Long-Shui Tai	Mercuries Tigers	P	Did not bat									5 - 1	0	71.1	79	6	26	22	3.28

Best Ten

The following players were part of the 1998 Best Ten teams.

Position	Player	Team
P	Mark Kiefer	Sinon Bulls
C	Chi-Chen Tseng	Uni-President Lions
1B	Jay Kirkpatrick	Sinon Bulls
2B	Chung-Yi Huang	Sinon Bulls
3B	Tai-Shan Chang	Wei Chuan Dragons
SS	Ron Maurer	Sinon Bulls
OF	Lien-Hung Chen	Chinatrust Whales
OF	Chiung-Lung Huang	Wei Chuan Dragons
OF	Ted Wood	Brother Elephants

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 1998.

Position	Player	Team
P	Mark Kiefer	Sinon Bulls
C	Chi-Chen Tseng	Uni-President Lions
1B	Chin-Mao Chen	Wei Chuan Dragons
2B	Chung-Yi Huang	Sinon Bulls
3B	Kun-Han Lin	Mercuries Tigers
SS	Ron Maurer	Sinon Bulls
OF	Chuan-Chia Wang	Sinon Bulls
OF	Lien-Hung Chen	Chinatrust Whales
OF	Chuang-Chen Chueh	Chinatrust Whales

Sources include CPBL website, Taiwan Baseball Wiki, Baseball Beyond Our Borders