Model players cited amid baseball scam

24 operators of gambling rings and players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) have been indicted by prosecutors on charges of fixing baseball game results.

To the disappointment of countless baseball fans in Taiwan, an investigation found that many of their heroes and favorite players were lured by money, expensive gifts, wine, and women offered by kingpins of gambling syndicates.

However, many baseball stars, notably Chen Chin-feng of La New Bears and Peng Cheng-min of Brother Elephants, were cited as model players of tougher moral fiber.

Their names were never once mentioned in the long and thorough investigation by prosecutors whilst many other players probed pointed the finger at one another or were forced to repeatedly make elaborate efforts to clear their names.

People familiar with Chen and Peng said the two have already established themselves as “untouchables” as no operators of gambling rings were able to seduce them into their match-fixing schemes.

They always declined suspicious invitations for after-game activities and maintained a distance from colleagues with questionable reputations, said their friends.

Many sport analysts and commentators said they were not surprised by the long list of defendants named by prosecutors because the implicated players were exactly the people both Chen and Peng have avoided mingling with.

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