Despite Taiwan’s ardent love for the game, its China Professional Baseball League (CPBL) has been struggling, in large measure because of the influence of the underworld and its intimidation, gambling and game-fixing.
According to experts, the MLB all-star series, which the visitors wrapped up 5-0 on Sunday having drawn tens of thousands of fans, highlighted the huge gap between American baseball and the management of the sport in Taiwan.
“I don’t understand the point of this MLB tour,” said Andrew Morris, a Taiwan expert at California Polytechnic State University, who has written a book about Taiwanese baseball.
“It’s not going to make the locals more interested in the domestic product. It will just show the divide between the two games and remind fans how seedy and violent Taiwan baseball is.”
Since pro-ball began in Taiwan in 1990, there have been five game-fixing scandals, four of them in the last seven years.
With each one seemingly more lurid than the last, attendances have plummeted from an average 7,000 fans a game in the late 1990s to a few thousand today.
Accounts of the scandals read like the plot of a Hollywood gangster movie. For players who were resistant to being bought off with money, cars, drugs or prostitutes, things got very ugly, very fast.
What wasn’t mentioned during the MLB tour of the Beautiful Island.
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1. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) Posted: November 10, 2011 at 05:17 PM (#3990266)Nah, they know that you will sell the router passwords for a carton of unopened M:tG packs. No need to get expensive.
If this was generally known, I don't understand how anyone would ever bet ON his team. And there goes any potential profit from throwing games. Seems the only way to make that pay off is if you throw games in a sport where people believe things are on the level.
Next time I go in the batting cage, I'll bet you $100 that I miss the first pitch. Any takers?
If this came to light, you could get better odds on your team to win. So, like, maybe he's playing a double game.
I think that's how it works generally, yes.
"Hindsight is 20-20, my friend."
Hey, Rocky lost, pay up.
Chinese "businessmen" took over the Finnish soccer club AC Allianssi, which then lost a game 0-8 and promptly folded, if you can bet enough on one game of Finnish soccer in Asia to make it worthwhile to take over a club, it's not hard to believe that you can bet an order of magnitude or two more on a local event. Then add the possibility of keeping the charade going for more games.
Reminded me of this:
"Let me get this straight: you took all the money you made franchising your name and bet it against the Harlem Globetrotters?"
"I thought the Generals were due!"
Hong Kong Jockey Club
"The HKJC conducts nearly 700 horse races per year at its two race tracks at Sha Tin and Happy Valley. During the 2001/02 racing season, the HKJC licensed 1,144 horse owners, 24 trainers and 35 jockeys and had 1,435 horses in training.
In 2002–2003, the betting turnover was HK$71 billion. After paying dividends of 58 billion and betting duty of 9.5 billion, its betting commission revenue was HK$3.9 billion. It contributes 11.7% of Hong Kong's tax revenue. Surpluses from its operation are allocated to the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust."
Tiger Want was the biggest celebrity on the island for a while (now its the female Taiwanese golfer). Last time I was there McDonald's had a whole series of trading cards that they were using as giveaways - I guess part of happy meals.
this is putting two stories together, Windshield Wiper is the latest scandal's mastermind but he didn't actually own the teams, what happened was that one of the teams a few years back was up for sales and a young guy (he was under 30 IIRC) no one ever heard of backed by a company that no one's ever heard of (or is clear what busniess they're actually into) tried to buy the team... obviously that drew massive suspicion and the deal fell through and the team folded.
The real issue with Taiwan and baseball fixing is the simple problem that players aren't paid nearly enough, the vast vast majority of them barely makes more money than a above average salary man (and Taiwan's salary in US dollar terms is very low for a developed country) with a career expectency of under 10 years and no other serious marketable skills once they retire (we joke that most of them end up selling Chicken Stakes ... which is actually only half joking since many of them can't even do that.). in this sort of situation it's not hard to see why they'd be interested to throw games.
There's also no formal agent system (since most don't make enough to hire one anyway) and the vast vast vast majority of the players come from fairly poor backgrounds, which only makes matter worse as most of them aren't exactly good money managers, even Chin Hui Tsao, who made quite a major fortune by Taiwan's baseball player's standard, is rumored to now be in financial strait just a couple years after leaving the game (he's widely rumored to basically pay for everyone's bill at every meal he go to and "view money as a pile of dung" in the Chinese proverbial sense..)
I don't see how this makes them different from pro athletes in the US. The bankruptcy numbers for players 5 years out of MLB/NBA/NFL are ludicrously high.
edit: And it's not like minor league baseball players are paid diddly, either.
Shaoxing Opera: "Tiger Wang Kidnapping a Woman to Be His Wife"
There are limits on the number of times a year PRC citizens can visit Macau, presumably to stop all the money in China disappearing into the pockets of Adelson and Wynn.
Macau is an odd place.
You know what just occurred to me? What if Pete Rose has a bet AGAINST his getting into the Hall of Fame (say, on a yearly basis)? Wouldn't that be awesome?
That is an unfair cliche! I don't even play Magic: the Gathering!
Now if we were talking game time cards for Star Trek Online or something, then...OK, yeah.
Did it ever occur to anyone that those Little Leaguers weren't twelve years old? Seriously, I know they've got it more under control now, but back in the 70s. Those kids were ridiculous. No one on TV ever said anything.
Some of them weren't 12, no, but IIRC the real issue was that Taiwan sent all-star teams made up of the best players from all over the island. Playing in Isolation is a very interesting book about the history of baseball in Taiwan.
When I lived there, I was just a few blocks from the President Lions stadium and used to go regularly. Taiwanese baseball is unique, fun, and fascinating and I hope their game thrives again soon.
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