Japanese Baseball Cards: RIP Chang Chih-chia

Monday, January 8, 2024

RIP Chang Chih-chia

Former Seibu Lions pitcher Chang Chih-chia passed away last week from a heart attack at age 43. Chang had burst on the scene during the 2001 IBAF Baseball World Cup when he went 4-0 for the Taiwan National Team, including a five hit shutout of Team Japan in the Bronze Medal game. He was drafted in the first round of the 2002 Taiwan Major League (TML) draft by Taipei Gida. He only made five appearances in the TML before signing a contract with Seibu at the end of April, 2002. He made his top team debut at the beginning of June and went 10-4 with a 2.71 ERA in 19 starts, helping the Lions to the Pacific League pennant. Chang set a record by having at least one strikeout in 28 consecutive innings (which has since been surpassed by Dennis Sarfate). He started Game Three of the Nippon Series against the Giants and gave up five runs in 3+ innings, taking the loss in the 10-2 game.

His numbers weren't as good in 2003, going 7-7 with an ERA of 4.98. He finished the year by beating South Korea and China in the Asian Baseball Championship in Sapporo, helping Taiwan qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympic games. He rebounded a bit in 2004, going 9-8 with a 3.70 ERA and making the All Star team for the only time. He pitched for Taiwan in the Athens Olympics, starting their games against Canada (a 7-0 loss) and Italy (a 5-4 loss). He got the start in Game 4 of the Nippon Series against the Dragons and again took the loss but again giving up five runs, this time in 3 1/3 innings.

That Nippon Series start was Chang's last appearance at the ichi-gun level. A shoulder injury cost him most of the 2005 season and he spent both it and the following year on the farm team. The Lions released him following 2006 and he apparently sat out the 2007 before joining the La New Bears of the CPBL (the TML having folded by now). He spent two seasons with the Bears, going 3-4 with 2.07 ERA in 2008 and 10-9, 1.84 ERA in 2009. He also pitched in both the Olympic Qualifying tournament in March of 2008 and the Beijing Olympics themselves that August.

Chang was released at the end of 2009 due to his involvement with a game-fixing scandal and was subsequently banned for life from the CPBL. He was indicted by Taiwanese prosecutors in 2010 on gambling and fraud charges and was ultimately convicted. I'm not sure what his initial prison sentence was - either four months or two years - or if he actually served any time. His sentence was commuted in 2014 to a NT$120,000 fine.

Chang had a number of Japanese baseball cards, mostly with BBM. His rookie card was #693 in the 2002 BBM 2nd Version set but he also had Calbee Series Two (#145) and Konami Prime Nine (#PN02B1098) cards that year.* That was his only Calbee card but he also had Konami cards in the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Konami Prime Nine sets. He appeared in the 1st and 2nd Version sets in 2003 and 2004 and the 1st Version set in 2005 as well as the Lions team sets from 2003 to 2006. He also appeared on some CPBL cards in at least 2008.

* To be honest, the Calbee Series Two card may predate the BBM 2nd Version one - not sure of the publication date of either set. Or the Konami for that matter.

Here's some representative cards from his career in Japan: