La New Bears
| Lamigo Monkeys | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| League | Chinese Professional Baseball League |
| Ballpark | Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium |
| Year founded | 2003 |
| Taiwan Series championships |
|
| Former name(s) |
|
| Colors | Blue, white and red |
| Playoff berths | |
| Ownership | La New Corporation |
| Manager | Hong I-Chung |
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 Bears 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.
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 (陳建隆) 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. Interestingly, the bulk of Agan's player came from Taipei Gida and Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala, and not the Taichung Agan which carried the same mascot and the champion of the final season of TML. Agan played its home games at Chengcing Lake Baseball Field.
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