TAIWAN: BASEBALL - New York Yankees baseball star Wang Chien-ming returns to homeland Taiwan

In the face of recent personnel changes within the New York Yankees, Taiwan baseball star Wang Chien-Ming, said he would stay with the team as long as possible. New York Yankees baseball star Wang Chien-ming, a household name in his native Taiwan, said in a rare public appearance on Tuesday he wanted to pitch for the team as long as possible despite what he claimed as low pay and post-season losses. The 27-year-old pitcher's 19 wins in 2006 set a record for Asian players in the U.S. major leagues. He won another 19 games this year despite starting the season late due to an injury. His success in three years with the Yankees, where he earns less than a quarter of the average baseball player's salary, has earned him idol status at home in Taiwan. But Wang lost the opening game of the Yankees first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Indians, and then was removed in the fourth and final game after less than two innings. "At post-season playoffs, I did not do very well. I disappointed fans and resulting in our coach to lose the opportunity of staying with the team. No matter who will be the coach next year, I will still play my best for the team," said Wang. Wang expressed regret over the departure of 12-year Yankees coach Joe Torre after the post-season loss and said he had sent Torre a thank-you letter. He said he would do his best to adapt to the new coach in 2008. "I thank him for believing in me in the past three years, and giving me many chances to play on the field, I really appreciate that," Wang told the press conference, which was organised by Nike Inc. Torre took formal control of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday (November 5), after he quit the Yankees last month after 12 years with baseball's most storied franchise, saying he was unwilling to accept a one-year contract with incentives he found insulting. Torre said that while he had "a wonderful run" with the Yankees, where he took his teams to the playoffs each year and won the World Series four times, he left with no regrets.

ITN Source | November 7, 2007

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