Lamigo Monkeys

Lamigo Monkeys
Information
League Chinese Professional Baseball League
Ballpark Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium
Year founded 2003 (2003)
Taiwan Series championships (5)
Former name(s)
  • First Financial Holdings Agan (2003)
  • La New Bears (2004–2010)
Colors Blue, white and red
Playoff berths (8)
Ownership La New Corporation
Manager Hong I-Chung
Uniforms

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The Lamigo Monkeys (Chinese: Lamigo 桃猿; pinyin: Lamigo Táoyúan), formerly First Financial Holdings Agan (第一金控金剛, abbreviated 第一金剛) and then the La New Bears (La New 熊), are a professional baseball team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. Owned and administered by the Kaohsiung-based shoe-producing La New Corporation, the Bears qualified for the playoffs in 2006 for the first time in team history, and by finishing with the best record for the whole season, gained an automatic berth in the Taiwan Series.

The team played their home games at Chengcing Lake Baseball Field in Kaohsiung County (now part of Kaohsiung City) from 2004 to 2010. In the 2011 season, their home stadium was moved to Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. Accordingly, the team's name was changed to the Lamigo Monkeys.

History

First Financial Holdings Agan

First known as the First Securities Agan, the team was owned by the First Financial Holding Corporation, a government-funded financial holding service institute. Its then-chairman Chen Chien-lung was a keen political supporter of President Chen Shui-bian, and, upon the president's request, immediately agreed to take over one of the two former TML teams after TML was merged into CPBL in January 2003. Since Macoto Bank had already decided to take-over the Macoto Gida, Chen Chien-lung took over the Agan as promised. The majority of Agan's player came from Taipei Gida and Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala, and not from the Taichung Agan, which carried the same mascot and were the champions of the final season of TML. Agan played its home games at Chengcing Lake Baseball Field.

After Chen Chien-lung's sudden resignation due to allegation of insider trading in August 2003, the First Financial Holding Corporation no longer showed willingness in running the team. The Agan finished the 2003 season placing fifth overall, and did not win any of the 20 games against Brother Elephants, the Taiwan Series champions of that season.

La New Bears

Just before the 2004 season, Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing invited the La New Corporation, a footwear manufacturer to sponsor the then-vacant Chengcing Lake Baseball Field, which was under the management of Kaohsiung County after the disbandment of Taiwan Major League. La New Corporation eventually agreed and, in addition, offered to buy the First Financial Holdings Agan, whose management had been struggling in the past season. On December 16, 2003, La New completed the process with First Financial Holdings and renamed the team La New Bears. In the first two years of their existence, the Bears did not perform well. But after several additions to the roster through drafts and the minor league, the Bears turned the team around, eventually winning the 2006 Taiwan Series title.

Lamigo Monkeys

After several years of futile effort to manage the Kaohsiung market, the team relocated to Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City) and changed its name to Lamigo Monkeys in January 2011. Lamigo is a subsidiary of La New Corporation that operates a wellness center, restaurants as well as a travel agency in northern Taiwan. Since Lamigo is based in northern Taiwan, the team was moved to Taoyuan County and play their home games at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. Their new name in Chinese, taoyuan (桃猿), is a homophone to their new home county. Despite the name change, La New Corporation retained its direct ownership of the team.[1] In 2012, the Monkeys won their first seasonal title after the name change when they defeated Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions four games to one in Taiwan Series.

Records

Qualified for playoffs Taiwan Series Championship Asia Series Championship

Regular seasons

Season Wins Losses Ties Pct. Place
First Financial Holdings Agan
2003 20 (9/11) 71 (37/34) 9 (4/5) .220 (.196/.244) 5 (6/5)
La New Bears
2004 40 (18/22) 56 (30/26) 4 (2/2) .417 (.375/.458) 6 (6/5)
2005 42 (16/26) 55 (32/23) 3 (2/1) .433 (.333/.531) 6 (6/2)
2006 62 (30/32) 34 (19/15) 4 (1/3) .646 (.612/.681) 1 (1/1)
2007 58 (26/32) 42 (24/18) 0 (0/0) .580 (.520/.640) 2 (3/1)
2008 61 (28/33) 35 (19/16) 4 (3/1) .635 (.596/.673) 2 (2/1)
2009 61 (33/28) 58 (26/32) 1 (1/0) .513 (.559/.467) 2 (2/4)
2010 55 (31/24) 62 (27/35) 3 (2/1) .470 (.534/.407) 3 (2/4)
Lamigo Monkeys
2011 66 (33/33) 52 (26/26) 2 (1/1) .559 (.559/.559) 1 (2/1)
2012 66 (28/38) 52 (30/22) 2 (2/0) .559 (.483/.633) 2 (2/1)
2013 58 (28/30) 60 (32/28) 2 (0/2) .492 (.467/.517) 3 (3/2)
2014 66 (39/27) 51 (19/32) 3 (2/1) .564 (.672/.458) 1 (1/3)
2015 68 (37/31) 52 (23/29) 0 (0/0) .567 (.617/.517) 1 (1/2)
2016 53 (27/26) 64 (31/33) 3 (2/1) .453 (.466/.441) 4 (3/3)
2017 78 (43/35) 41 (16/25) 1 (1/0) .655 (.729/.583) 1 (1/1)
Total 854 785 41 .521

Playoffs

Season First Round Taiwan Series
Opponent Wins Losses Opponent Wins Losses
La New Bears
2006 Seeded first Uni-President Lions 4 0
2007 Seeded first Uni-President Lions 3 4
2008 Brother Elephants 0 3 Eliminated.
Lamigo Monkeys
2011 No first round Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 1 4
2012 No first round Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 4 1
2014 No first round Chinatrust Brothers 4 1
2015 No first round Chinatrust Brothers 4 3
2017 No first round Chinatrust Brothers 4 1
2018 No first round 0 0
Total 24 17

Asia Series

Year Round Robin Championship Round
Wins Losses Standing Opponent Result
La New Bears
2006 2 1 2 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 0 – 1 (L)
Lamigo Monkeys
2012 2 0 1 Yomiuri Giants 3 – 6 (L)
Total 4 1 0W – 2L

Roster

Lamigo Monkeys roster
Active roster Coaches/others

Pitchers

  • 12 Lai Ta-Kuan
  • 13 Hong Sheng-Cin
  • 14 Su Chun-Yu
  • 15 Lin Hua-Ching
  • 16 Chu Chun-Hsiang
  • 17 Cheng Chen-Hao
  • 19 Lin Yi-Hsiang
  • 20 Chen Yu-Hsun
  • 24 Michael Nix
  • 26 Yeh Chia-Chi
  • 30 Chen Min-Sih
  • 31 Yu Tsung-Ju
  • 32 Wang I-Cheng
  • 37 Liu Yu-Yen
  • 38 Bruce Kern
  • 41 Wang Yao-Lin
  • 44 Huang Wei-Cheng
  • 46 Lin Tsung-Wei
  • 49 Chang Ming-Hsiang
  • 68 Wan Chao-Ching
  • 69 Huang Tzu-Peng
  • 71 Lin Kuo-Yu
  • 74 Zeke Spruill
  • 76 Wu Cheng-Che
  • 77 Yu Chao-Wei
  • 81 Lin Po-Yu

Catchers

  •  5 Chiang Chung-Yuan
  • 11 Lin Hung-Yu
  • 27 Huang Hao-Jan
  • 47 Hsu Yu-Hao
  • 58 Liao Chien-Fu
  • 60 Liu Shih-Hao
  • 62 Yen Hung-Chun
  • 86 Chang Min-Hsun

Infielders

  •  0 Weng Ke-Yao
  •  1 Yeh Chu-Hsuan
  •  6 Lin Cheng-Fei
  •  7 Kuo Yung-Wei
  • 21 Kuo Yen-Wen
  • 25 Yang Tai-Chun
  • 28 Tung Tzu-Hao
  • 29 Chen Chun-Hsiu
  • 36 Yu Te-Lung
  • 39 Lin Li
  • 45 Feng Chien-Ting
  • 72 Chang Wei-Chien
  • 79 Lin Chih-Ping
  • 82 Huang Chin-Wei
  • 85 Chu Yu-Hsien
  • 97 Liang Chia-Jung

Outfielders

  •  8 Chan Chih-Yao
  •  9 Wang Po-Jung
  • 23 Yang Yao-Hsun
  • 34 Lin Chih-Yu
  • 35 Cheng Chin
  • 51 Chi Pin-Hung
  • 57 Chung Cheng-Yu
  • 88 Lan Yin-Lun
  • 99 Lin Cheng-Yi

Manager

  •  2 Hong I-Chung

Coaches

  •  3 Wu Chun-Liang]] (pitching)
  • 22 Liu Chia-Hao (catching)
  • 42 Hong Chuan-Yi (fitness)
  • 59 Liu Ping-Chen (fitness)
  • 63 Tsai Yu-Hsiang (fielding)
  • 66 Tseng Hao-Ju (batting)
  • 83 Tseng Yi-Cheng (bullpen)
  • 93 Kuo Chien-Lin (head)

Roster updated on 27 May 2018

List of managers

Manager # Manager name Years Games Wins Losses Ties Playoffs Championships
1 Ohta Takuji 2004 50 18 30 2
2 Hong I-Chung 2004–2009, 2011–present 1393 750 616 14 8 5
(Acting) Lu Ming-Tsu 2009 16 11 5 0 0 0
3 Cai Rong-Zong 2010 120 55 63 2

Retired number

  • 10 – The number is reserved for the fans, as the tenth player on the field.

See also

References

  1. Huang, Paul (January 7, 2011). "La New Bears become the Lamigo Monkeys". Taipei Times. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
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