Baseball Olympian I-Chung Hong collects 1,000 career managerial wins

Already the record holder for most wins in Taiwan baseball history, the former Chinese Taipei manager at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and WBSC Premier12 2019 reached the milestone one day after his 62nd birthday.

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<p>TAOYUAN, Taiwan | TSG Hawks manager I-Chung Hong collected his 1,000^th managerial win on Wednesday, 15 May, by leading the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) expansion team to defeat his former team, Rakuten Monkeys, becoming the first manager in Taiwan baseball history to reach the milestone.</p>

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<p>“I always focus on whether I can win the game today or not,” said Hong after claiming his 1,000^th win in his 20^th season as a manager. </p>

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<p>Hong won his first game on June 19, 2004, as the manager of La New Bears (now known as Rakuten Monkeys) and has been winning 50 games yearly since then.</p>

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<p>“I never thought I would have the opportunity [to reach the 1,000-win milestone], and I considered myself a fortunate guy owing thanks to all those bosses that would put up with me and gave me the opportunities," Hong added. “As a manager, I’d like to ask the clubs to be more patient with us, the managers. This is a high-risk job, and many of us would worry about being replaced once the team does not play well.”</p>

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<p>Hong started his baseball career during grade school and went on to represent Chinese Taipei in many international tournaments, including the Summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988, the Baseball World Cup in 2001, and the Asian Games in Busan in 2002. </p>

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<p>He spent 13 seasons in professional baseball, splitting time with the Brother Elephants (now known as CTBC Brothers) of the CPBL (1990-1996) and Kao-Ping Fala of the (now defunct) Taiwan Major League (1997-2002).</p>

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<p>Hong was the starting catcher of the CPBL inaugural game on March 17, 1990.</p>

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<p>After being named the Chinese Taipei coach at the Baseball World Cup in 2003, Hong became the battery coach of the CPBL expansion team, La New Bears, in 2004 before being promoted to manager in the same season.</p>

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<p>Hong led the La New Bears (later to become Lamigo Monkeys) to an 884 win-717 loss-29 draw record during his 15-season tenure while winning the Taiwan Series title seven times, including back-to-back titles in 2014-2015 and a three-peat in 2017-2018-2019. His seven Taiwan Series wins also make him the record holder of most championship titles in Taiwan baseball history.</p>

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<p>In 2020, Hong was hired by the Fubon Guardians, and he went on to collect another 107 wins in two seasons before being hired by the TSG Hawks in 2023.</p>

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<p>In Taiwan’s baseball history, the late manager of EDA Rhinos, Sheng-Ming Hsu, is second after Hong with 715 wins, while the current manager of Weichuan Dragons, Chun-Chang Yeh’s 352 wins makes him third on the all-time win list.</p>

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