Chinese Professional Baseball League

Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL)

Current season, competition or edition: 2016
Come & Play, Baseball is Life
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1989
No. of teams	4
Country	Taiwan
Continent	Asia
Most recent champion(s)	EDA Rhinos (3rd title)
Most titles	Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (9 titles)
TV partner(s)	CPBL TV Elta TV Fox Sports Asia Videoland Television Network
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	www.CPBL.com.tw

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (Traditional Chinese: 中華職業棒球大聯盟), or CPBL, is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2003. As of 2013, the CPBL has four teams with average attendance of approximately 6,000 per game.

Baseball was first introduced to Taiwan during Japanese rule, and gained popularity when the national little league baseball teams won numerous Little League World Series championships in the 1970s and 1980s. The national baseball team also performed exceptionally well in many international competitions. However, the development of baseball in Taiwan was limited due to the lack of a professional league, and therefore many players were reluctant to commit to the sport.

The idea of forming a professional baseball league in Taiwan was first suggested by local Brother Hotel's chairman Hung Teng-Sheng (洪騰勝). He formed his amateur Brother Hotel baseball team in 1984, and intended to professionalize his team and form a professional league within a few years. Throughout 1988 and 1989, Hung visited numerous Taiwanese businesses, trying to convince them to form professional baseball clubs. Most of his requests were rejected, but Wei Chuan Corporation, Mercuries Chain Stores, and Uni-President Corporation all supported the idea and formed teams. The Chinese Professional Baseball League was established on October 23, 1989, with Hung Teng-sheng acting as secretary-general. Because of his contribution to professional baseball in Taiwan, Hung is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the CPBL." Chung Meng-shun (鍾孟舜) designed every original logo of the four founding teams.

In 1997, the newly founded Taiwan Major League began to compete with the CPBL. The two leagues were often competing with each other, but eventually, the TML merged with the CPBL.