{{Short description|Taiwanese baseball player and coach}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Shin-Ming Tan | image= File:Shin-Ming_Tan_in_1974_Fresno_Giants.jpg | image_size = 150 | caption = Shin-Ming Tan with the Fresno Giants in 1974 | team = Fresno Giants | number = | position = Pitcher | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|6|16}} | birth_place = Chiayi County, Taiwan | death_date = | death_place = | bats = Right | throws = Right | debutleague = California League | debutdate = May | debutyear = 1974 | debutteam = Fresno Giants | finaldate = September | finalyear = 1974 | finalteam = Fresno Giants | finalleague = California League |statleague = MiLB | stat1label=Win–loss record | stat1value=8–4 | stat2label=Earned run average | stat2value=4.68 | stat3label=Strikeouts | stat3value=53 | stat4label=Saves | stat4value=2 | teams = * Fresno Giants (1974) | awards= * First Taiwanese-born player in Minor League Baseball | hoflink = Taiwan Baseball Hall of Fame | hoftype = Taiwanese | hofdate = 2022 | hofvote = | hofmethod = }} {{family name hatnote|Tan|lang=Chinese}} '''Shin-Ming Tan''' ({{zh|t=譚信民|w=Tan2 Hsin4-min2}}; born 16 June 1950 in Chiayi County, Taiwan), also known as '''Tan Hsin-min''',<ref>{{cite news|title=Taiwan Hitter Signed By Dodgers|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taiwan-hitter-signed-by-dodgers/|date=5 January 1999|access-date=15 April 2024|work=CBS News}}</ref> is a Taiwanese baseball pitcher and coach. Tan was the first player from Taiwan to play professional baseball in the United States, playing for the Fresno Giants in 1974.
== Early life and education == Tan was born in Chiayi County to Tan Feng-chun (譚鳳君), who was an amateur baseball player and member of the Chiayi County Sports Committee. Tan attended Liu Hsin Home Economics and Commercial High School (六信家商; present-day Liu Hsin Senior High School) in Tainan and played on the varsity baseball team.<ref>{{cite news|title=讚譽譚信民 是可造之才|work=United Daily News|location=Taipei|date=14 February 1968|language=zh-tw}}</ref>
Tan joined the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) as part of the national compulsory military service and played on the ROCAF baseball team. He was selected to be on the Taiwanese national baseball team numerous times and served as captain.<ref name="Yam">{{cite news|last=Kuo|first=Ching-chia|title=野球報你知-台灣棒球旅美先行者的蝴蝶球宗師 譚信民|url=https://n.yam.com/Article/20231014226747|work=Yam News|date=14 October 2023|access-date=15 April 2024|language=zh-tw}}</ref>
== Playing career == While on the Air Force team, Tan played on the national team in the 1969 Asian Championship, 1971 Asian Championship, 1972 Amateur World Series, 1973 Asian Championship, 1973 Amateur World Series and 1973 Intercontinental Cup. In the 1972 Amateur World Series, he made the All-Star team as the best right-handed pitcher. He led that Series in strikeouts (53) and innings pitched (51 1/3).
Tan signed with the Taiheiyo Club Lions of the Pacific League.<ref>{{cite news |title=日獅子棒球隊抵台 譚信民將參加集訓 |work=聯合報 |location=台北市 |date=February 1, 1974|access-date=October 27, 2010 |language=zh-tw |url=http://catalog.digitalarchives.tw/?URN=2420386 }}</ref> They shipped him out to train with the Fresno Giants. He pitched 23 games, 9 of them starts (5 complete games), posting a 8–4 record with 2 saves. He allowed 87 hits and 22 walks in 73 innings while striking out 53 and posting a 4.68 ERA. As the California League had recently instituted a designated hitter rule, he did not bat.<ref>{{cite news |title=譚信民在美 已出任投手 |work=聯合報 |location=台北市 |date=May 2, 1974|access-date=October 27, 2010 |language=zh-tw |url=http://catalog.digitalarchives.tw/?URN=2420500 }}</ref> After the season, the San Francisco Giants signed him, but he never again pitched in their farm system.<ref>{{cite news |title=美職棒巨人隊 決羅致譚信民 |work=聯合報 |location=台北市 |date=November 5, 1974 |access-date=October 27, 2010 |language=zh-tw |url=http://catalog.digitalarchives.tw/?URN=2421075 }}</ref>
Shin-Ming Tan was the first player from Taiwan to play professional baseball in the United States,<ref name="URN3296735">{{cite news |author=藍宗標 |title=台灣蝴蝶球始祖 譚信民棄球從商:旅美球員開路先鋒 球技不輸王建民 惜未圓大聯盟美夢 |work=聯合報 |location=台北市 |date=October 1, 2005|access-date=October 27, 2010 |language=zh-tw |url=http://catalog.digitalarchives.tw/?URN=3296735 }}</ref> and the first Taiwanese native to sign with an MLB team, predating Chin-Feng Chen by 26 years. Tan returned to Taiwan and pitched in amateur leagues as there was no professional baseball in his homeland yet.
In 1975, after returning to Taiwan from California, Shin-Ming Tan played for the Taiwan Cooperative Bank baseball team. Because it had been less than a year since he left the Fresno Giants, he was disqualified from playing in the 1975 Asian Championship.<ref name="Yam"/> He played in the 1976 Amateur World Series.
== Coaching career == thumb|1974 Fresno Giants Tan later coached for the Chinese Cultural University and the Brother Hotels collegiate and amateur teams. In the 1986 Baseball World Cup, he coached for Team Taiwan and was manager of the team in the 1988 Haarlem Baseball Week (''Haarlemse Honkbalweek''). From 1991 to 1993, Tan was manager of the Mercuries Tigers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), guiding them to a 104–147 record. He was briefly a visiting coach in the Korea Baseball Organization, working with the Lotte Giants.<ref>{{cite news |author=周大友 |title=譚信民月薪12萬 創紀錄 |work=聯合報 |location=台北市 |date=February 5, 1991 |access-date=October 27, 2010 |language=zh-tw |url=http://catalog.digitalarchives.tw/?URN=3270339 }}</ref> Tan threw a knuckleball, fastball and curveball.
==Sources== * 1975 Baseball Guide * ''A History of Cuban Baseball'' by Peter Bjarkman (1972 AWS stats)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|brm=tan---001shi}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Baseball|Taiwan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Shin-Ming}} Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Chiayi County Category:Taiwanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Category:1950 births Category:Fresno Giants players Category:Taiwanese baseball players Category:Baseball pitchers Category:Mercuries Tigers managers