Chinatrust Whales

{{Short description|Taiwanese baseball team}} {{Infobox baseball team | name = Chinatrust Whales | logo = Chinatrustwhales logo.png | founded = {{start date and age|1991}} | folded = {{end date and age|2008}} | league = Chinese Professional Baseball League | location = Chiayi | stadium = Chiayi City Municipal Baseball Stadium | colors = Teal, red and white {{Color box|#006666}} {{Color box|#FF0000}} {{Color box|#FFFFFF}} | league_champs = | former_names = Koos Group Whales (1997–2001) | series = Taiwan Series | series_champs = | h_cap=006666 | h_pattern_cap=_redcrown | h_leftarm=006666 | h_pattern_la=_ctwhales | h_body=006666 | h_pattern_b=_ctwhales_home | h_rightarm=006666 | h_pattern_ra=_ctwhales | h_pants=006666 | h_pattern_pants=_beltonwhite | h_socks=006666 | a_cap=006666 | a_pattern_cap=_redcrown | a_leftarm=006666 | a_pattern_la=_redwhitecuffpiping | a_body=006666 | a_pattern_b=_ctwhales_away | a_rightarm=006666 | a_pattern_ra=_redwhitecuffpiping | a_pants=006666 | a_pattern_pants=_beltonwhite | a_socks=006666 }} The '''Chinatrust Whales''' (中信鯨), formerly '''Koos Group Whales''' (和信鯨), were a Taiwanese professional baseball team. Founded as an amateur team in 1991, this club became professional and joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 1997. It was administered by the Chinatrust Financial Holding Company. The Whales never won a CPBL championship during its existence. On 11 November 2008, it was announced that the team would disband due to financial losses of the Chinatrust group.

==History== In 1997, the amateur '''Chinatrust Whales Baseball Team''' was professionalized and became the seventh member of Chinese Professional Baseball League; however, because Taiwan forbids financial institutions to invest in unrelated markets, the ownership of the team had to be transferred to Koos Group (和信集團), which was also the owner of Chinatrust, thus the team was named KG Whales when it began its first season.

Initially, the Whales played their home games at the Chiayi Baseball Field. The team did not have any notable success over the course of its history, with only two appearances in the Championship series, winning only a single game over the course of those two series while dropping eight. In 2002, because of the split of Chinatrust and the Koos Group, the ownership of the Whales were transferred back to Chinatrust and renamed Chinatrust Whales. The organization disbanded after the 2008 season.

Although owned by the same parent corporation, Chinatrust Whales and Chinatrust Brothers are two separate organization with separate franchise histories. Chinatrust acquired the Brothers organization from Brother Hotel in December 2013, five years after the Whales folded.

==Final roster== {{baseball tournament roster | TeamName = 2008 Chinatrust Whales | BC1 = #006666 | FC1 = #FFFFFF | BC2 = #FF0000 | FC2 = #FFFFFF

| Pitchers = {{player|49|TWN|Chu Wei-ming}} {{player|36|TWN|Ni Fu-te}} {{player|46|TWN|Kao Min-ching}} {{player|11|TWN|Liu Yu-chan}} {{player|61|TWN|Shen Yu-chieh}} {{player|21|TWN|Tsai Chia-hung}} {{player|39|TWN|Tseng Chao-hao}} {{player|25|TWN|Tu Chang-wei}} {{player|43|USA|Steve Watkins}}

| Catchers = {{player|30|TWN|Li Yi-wei}} {{player|27|TWN|Wang Chun-jen}} {{player| 8|TWN|Wang Hsin-min}}

| Infielders = {{player| 3|TWN|Chang Chia-yuan}} {{player| 3|TWN|Chen Chia-hung}} {{player| 3|TWN|Chiu Chun-wen}} {{player| 2|TWN|Lin Yung-kun}} {{player| 9|TWN|Tseng Chia-hsien}} {{player|18|DOM|Wilton Veras}} {{player|27|TWN|Wang Yi-min}}

| Outfielders = {{player|55|TWN|Huang Cheng-chi}} {{player| 7|TWN|Kuo Tai-yung}} {{player|28|TWN|Lin Chin-chang}} {{player|56|TWN|Lu Chun-hsiung}} {{player|58|TWN|Yang Chin-hsiung}} {{player|13|TWN|Yeh Chang-lung}}

| Manager = {{player|83|TWN|Hsieh Chang-heng}}

| Coaches = {{player|72|TWN|Chiu Chi-pin}} {{small|(infielders)}} {{player|88|TWN|Huang Chiung-lung}} {{small|(outfielders)}} {{player|77|TWN|Hsieh Cheng-hsun}} {{small|(pitching)}} {{player|81|TWN|Li Kun-che}} {{small|(hitting)}} {{player|66|TWN|Li Tu-hung}} {{small|(pitching)}} Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205143257/http://www.cpbl.com.tw/teams/TeamPlayers.aspx?Tno=W01 CPBL] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013233014/http://www.whale.com.tw/team.php Chinatrust Whales] }}

==Records== {| class="wikitable" width = 650 |width = 33% align="center" bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|Qualified for Playoffs |width = 33% align="center" bgcolor="#bbffbb"|Taiwan Series Championship |width = 33% align="center" bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|Asia Series Championship |}

===Regular seasons=== {| class=wikitable style="text-align:left; font-size:95%" |- ! width = "90"| Season ! width = "105"|Wins ! width = "105"|Losses ! width = "105"|Ties ! width = "105"|Pct. ! width = "105"|Place |-bgcolor = "0000FF" | colspan = 6 align="center" | '''Koos Group Whales''' |- | align="center" | 1997 | align="center" | 39 (20/19) | align="center" | 56 (27/29) | align="center" | 1 (1/0) | align="center" | .411 (.426/.396) | align="center" | 7 (6/6) |- | align="center" | 1998 | align="center" | 54 | align="center" | 49 | align="center" | 2 | align="center" | .524 | align="center" | 4 |-bgcolor = "FFE6BD" | align="center" | 1999 | align="center" | 60 | align="center" | 29 | align="center" | 2 | align="center" | .674 | align="center" | 1 |- | align="center" | 2000 | align="center" | 41 (21/20) | align="center" | 45 (21/24) | align="center" | 4 (3/1) | align="center" | .477 (.500/.455) | align="center" | 3 (2/3) |- | align="center" | 2001 | align="center" | 45 (23/22) | align="center" | 45 (22/23) | align="center" | 0 (0/0) | align="center" | .500 (.511/.489) | align="center" | 3 (2/2) |-bgcolor = "006666" | colspan = 6 align="center" | '''Chinatrust Whales''' |-bgcolor = "FFE6BD" | align="center" | 2002 | align="center" | 45 (21/24) | align="center" | 42 (21/21) | align="center" | 3 (3/0) | align="center" | .517 (.500/.533) | align="center" | 2 (2/2) |- | align="center" | 2003 | align="center" | 51 (26/25) | align="center" | 43 (19/24) | align="center" | 6 (5/1) | align="center" | .543 (.578/.510) | align="center" | 4 (2/4) |- | align="center" | 2004 | align="center" | 45 (21/24) | align="center" | 50 (27/23) | align="center" | 5 (2/3) | align="center" | .474 (.438/.511) | align="center" | 4 (5/4) |- | align="center" | 2005 | align="center" | 47 (24/23) | align="center" | 49 (24/25) | align="center" | 4 (2/2) | align="center" | .490 (.500/.479) | align="center" | 4 (4/4) |- | align="center" | 2006 | align="center" | 42 (17/25) | align="center" | 51 (31/20) | align="center" | 7 (2/5) | align="center" | .452 (.354/.556) | align="center" | 5 (6/2) |- | align="center" | 2007 | align="center" | 46 (19/27) | align="center" | 52 (30/22) | align="center" | 2 (1/1) | align="center" | .469 (.388/.551) | align="center" | 4 (6/3) |- | align="center" | 2008 | align="center" | 39 (20/19) | align="center" | 61 (30/31) | align="center" | 0 (0/0) | align="center" | .390 (.400/.380) | align="center" | 5 (5/4) |- ! Totals ! align="center" | 554 ! align="center" | 572 ! align="center" | 36 ! align="center" | .492 ! align="center" | -- |}

===Playoffs===

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center; font-size:95%" |- ! rowspan = "2" width = "90" | Season ! colspan = "3" | First Round ! colspan = "3" | Taiwan Series |- ! width = "160"| Opponent ! width = "50" | Wins ! width = "50" | Losses ! width = "160"| Opponent ! width = "50" | Wins ! width = "50" | Losses |-bgcolor = "0000FF" | colspan = 7 align="center" | '''Koos Group Whales''' |- | 1999 | colspan = "3" | No first round. | Wei Chuan Dragons | 1 | 4 |-bgcolor = "006666" | colspan = 7 align="center" | '''Chinatrust Whales''' |- | 2002 | colspan = "3" | No first round. | Brother Elephants | 0 | 4 |- ! Total ! colspan="4"|Combining the first round and Taiwan Series ! 1 ! 8 |}

== External links == *[http://www.chinatrust.com The Chinatrust Financial Holding Company official website] *[https://www.cpbl.com.tw The CPBL official website]

Category:Defunct baseball teams in Taiwan Category:Baseball teams established in 1991 Category:Baseball teams disestablished in 2008 Category:1991 establishments in Taiwan Category:2008 disestablishments in Taiwan * Category:Chinatrust Whales Category:Whales and humans