Yasuaki Taiho

Yasuaki Taiho (陳大豐, Tai-Feng Chen in Chinese)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 209 lb.

• Schools Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Fu Jen Catholic University
• High Schools Hua Hsing High School

• Born November 15, 1963 in Puli, Nantou Taiwan
• Died January 18, 2015 in Nagoya, Aichi Japan

BR NPB page

Biographical Information

Yasuaki Taiho (as he was known in Japan; he was called Tai-Feng Chen in his native Taiwan) had one of the best careers of any Taiwanese position player in the 20th Century, hitting over 250 home runs in Nippon Pro Baseball. His brother Masahiro Taijun played professionally in Japan as well.

Taiho hit 24 homers in college, a record in the Aichi University League. He was drafted by the Chunichi Dragons in the second round of the 1988 draft. As he had gone to school in Japan, he did not count as a foreign player under the Nippon Professional Baseball roster rules.

Taiho hit .233/.318/.427 as a rookie for Chunichi in 1989, at age 25. In 1990, Yasuaki batted .274/.333/.556 with 20 homers in 259 AB. He became an everyday player in 1991 and tied a Central League record with extra base hits in 10 straight games. For the year, his batting line was .283/.376/.543 and he hit 26 home runs. He made the CL All-Star team for the first time.

In 1992, the slugger hit .267/.343/.478. That year, he got a new gaijin teammate, Alonzo Powell. The two had lockers next to each other and became friends; Powell later recalled "he saw himself as a foreign player even though he had Japanese-player status. We had a bond because we saw ourselves as outsiders."

He batted .259/.375/.501 with 25 home runs in 1993. Taiho had his best year in 1994, batting .310/.396/.608 with 38 home runs and 107 RBI. 18 of his homers came against the Hiroshima Carp, a record for one player against a single team in Nippon Pro Baseball. Three of those jacks came on July 31. He made his second All-Star team. He led the league in home runs, total bases (297), sacrifice flies (9) and RBI (16 ahead of his closest competitor, Glenn Braggs). He tied for third in runs (83, even with Akira Eto) and lost the slugging title by .001 to Glenn Braggs. He made the Best Nine at first base, being honored as the league's best player at that position.

Taiho fell to .244/.336/.470 with 24 home runs in 1995. In 1996, he rebounded to bat .294/.385/.587 with 38 homers and 89 RBI, making his third and last All-Star team. He homered in five straight games in April. He tied Hideki Matsui for second in the league in home runs, one behind Takeshi Yamasaki.

Taiho hit .240/.330/.402 in 1997. On April 3, 1997, he tied a record with five strikeouts in a game.That winter, he was traded with Akihiro Yano to the Hanshin Tigers for Koichi Sekikawa and Teruyoshi Kuji.

In 1998, he batted .231/.310/.492 with 21 HR in 207 AB; despite his part-time role, he easily led Hanshin in homers as only Shinjiro Hiyama (15) and Dave Hansen (11) joined him in going deep more than 9 times.

When Mark Johnson was signed by Hanshin for 1999, the 35-year-old Taiho was forced to the bench, where he excelled. He batted .341/.403/.750 with 18 homers in 164 AB, including six pinch-hit homers. He had a 24-game hitting streak off the bench from August through October. Taiho hit .241/.309/.512 with 23 HR and 54 RBI in 303 AB in 2000, his last season with Hanshin.

Back with Chunichi for his last two years, Yasuaki batted .171/.234/.357 in 77 plate appearances in 2001 and .213/.315/.511 in 54 plate appearances in 2002.

Taiho was with the Taiwan national team for the 2001 Baseball World Cup as their starting first baseman but he batted just .171/.250/.314 with 11 strikeouts in 35 AB as no match for younger teammates Chin-Feng Chen and Tai-Shan Chang, the new generation of Taiwanese sluggers.

Taiho retired after 2002 with a career NPB line of .266/.358/.521 with 277 homers and 722 RBI in 4,097 AB. Through 2008, he was tied with Kazuhiro Yamauchi for 21st in NPB history in slugging, between Yoshinobu Takahashi and Kazuhiro Kiyohara.

Following his playing career, Taiho became a scout for Chunichi. He died of leukemia at age 51.

Sources

• Chinese Baseball Wiki
• Defunct IBAF site
• Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
• Remembering Japanese Baseball by Rob Fitts
• Yakyubaka