Kuang-Hui Wang, an iconic Taiwanese baseball star of his era whose playing career spanned over three decades dated from his grade school days, passed away on Sunday, he was 56.
Coming from the Amis indigenous township of Tafalong Tribe, Wang’s baseball gene runs in the family as his grandfather dominated on the mound, his father was known as a solid catcher behind the plate, while his mom and aunt played softball.
Wang started to play baseball while he was in elementary school and encouraged his younger brother Kuang-Shi and sister Shiao-Ling to also play, both later excelling in baseball and softball respectively. Kuang-Shi also played professional baseball with the Chinatimes Eagles after multiple selections in national teams at all levels.
Wang first set foot on the international stage in 1981 when he represented Chinese Taipei at the 1st IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship in Ohio, U.S.A. He was also selected to the national team for the 29th Baseball World Cup (1986), the 14th Asian Baseball Championship and 8thIntercontinental Cup (both in 1987) and the 30th Baseball World Cup (1988) before participating in the Summer Olympics in Seoul.
In 1988 Wang joined the Brother Hotel Baseball Team, the pre-professional era team of the Brother Elephants. After the founding of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Wang became the first batter in the history of Brother Elephants as leadoff in the bottom half of the first inning in the inaugural game of the League in 1990.
During the inaugural season, as soon as the Elephants fans found themselves out of contention during the second-half season, their attention shifted to the heated competition for batting title between Wang and Mathis Huff of the Weichuan Dragons. With Huff leading Wang by just four points with less than a week left in the season, the Dragons sit Huff to protect his lead. Wang, injured then, was forced to play, and came from behind to take the 2-point lead with one game each left for the season. On the final day of the season Wang again started and went 2 for 3, while Huff went 0 for 3 in the final game of the season. Wang became the historical first batting title winner of the CPBL, and Huff not only lost the batting title but also sat second on home runs and RBI.
In 2001 Wang collected his 1,000th career hit, becoming the third player in CPBL history to reach the milestone. Wang made 12 consecutive appearances in All-Star Games from the league’s inaugural season among his 13 selections, setting an early day CPBL record. His successor Cheng-Ming Peng of the Elephants / CTBC Brothers later broke his record with 19 consecutive appearances before his retirement.
Wang spent all fifteen years of his professional career with the Brother Elephants and wore number 26 only. Due to his frequent clutch hitting, kind and easy-going personality, Wang was nicknamed by the fans as “The Charmer.”
In 2004, Wang decided to call it a career and received the grandest ever farewell ceremony in the history of CPBL at his hometown Hualien County. Wang was honored by the elders of his tribe for his achievement in baseball and was awarded the status of the tribal leader during the farewell ceremony.
Wang was was named the coach and manager of the Elephants. At the time when he took the helm of the team in 2007, he became the first manager with indigenous ancestry in the history of all professional sports in Taiwan. In 2009, he resigned from the post and started to contribute to academic baseball programs and grassroots development. Between 2012 and 2017 he was also the manager of the national reserve team in addition to duties with colleges and high school baseball programs. Wang was very active at charity events and was a frequent participant in old boy tournaments.
Wang was diagnosed with liver cancer last year and was survived by his wife and two sons. His elder son Wei-Chen now plays for the CTBC Brothers and was named All-Star Third Baseman in the II WBSC Premier12 2019, while his younger son Wei-Lun is currently enrolled with high school baseball programs. The CTBC Brothers has announced to hold tributes and ceremonies at their first home game following the passing of Wang.
