Chang Chih-chia, a former Taiwan national baseball team ace and an all-star in Japan with the Saitama Seibu Lions, passed away in China on Monday, his mother said yesterday. He was 43.
Chang’s family did not provide any other details, or the cause of Chang’s death.
His mother said she talked with him over the phone on New Year’s Eve, but could not reach him on Monday.
Photo: Chan Chao-yang, Taipei Times file
She then asked Chang’s friends and his landlord to check on him at his apartment, and his landlord found him on the apartment floor.
His family were in the process of applying for travel documents to go to China, Chang’s mother said.
Local media quoted unnamed sources as saying that Chang died of a heart attack.
He was reportedly playing softball in Shenzhen before he passed away.
Born on May 6, 1980, Chang rose to fame as one of the best pitchers in Taiwan’s history after his 2001 Baseball World Cup performance.
The 21-year-old right-hander posted a 4-0 record during the 13-day tournament, including a 3-0 complete game shutout victory over Japan to secure third place. He had a 0.36 earned run average (ERA) and 26 strikeouts in 25-1/3 innings.
Chang was viewed as a savior at a time when the CPBL was still reeling from a massive game-fixing scandal in the late 1990s.
Fresh off his near-flawless outings during the World Cup, Chang signed with Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) Lions and was given a ￥120 million (US$847,704 at the current exchange rate) signing bonus, the highest ever given to a Taiwanese pitcher in Japan.
During his Lions career from 2002 to 2004, Chang had a 26-19 record, 352 strikeouts and a 3.81 ERA.
After that, he spent most of his time in the NPB minor league because of repeated injuries, before being released after the 2006 season.
In 2002, Chang set an NPB record by striking out at least one batter in 28 consecutive innings. The record was only broken in 2015 by Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate.
At the peak of his popularity, Chang became as a celebrity in Taiwan outside of baseball, releasing a music album and filming TV commercials.
After leaving Japan, he joined Taiwan’s La New Bears (the predecessor of the Rakuten Monkeys), but was released in 2009 due to his involvement in a game-fixing scandal. As a result, the CPBL banned Chang for life from playing professionally in the country.
He was given a four-month prison term, which was commuted to a NT$120,000 fine in 2014 by the High Court.
After leaving baseball, he worked for a short period as a chef in a Taichung restaurant and played golf.
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