Hong I-chung

Hong I-chung
TSG Hawks – No. 2
Born: (1961-05-14) 14 May 1961 Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Professional debut
CPBL: March 17, 1990, for the Brother Elephants
Taiwan Major League: 1997, for the Gao Ping Fala

Hong I-chung (May 14, 1961 -), nicknamed "Hongzhong", is a Taiwanese baseball catcher. He once played for the Brother Elephants of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and Gao Ping Fala of the Taiwan Major League. He has previously served as the manager of the La New Bears, Lamigo Monkeys, and Fubon Guardians, and became the manager of the TSG Hawks on January 16, 2023.

Youth Era

Hong I-chung first played baseball when he was in elementary school, and later joined the famous Meiho Senior High School Baseball Team. He represented Taiwan in the 16th World Youth Baseball Championship in 1976 and 1979 respectively.

Playing Career

Before the establishment of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Hong joined the Brother Elephants baseball team and stayed with the Elephants for a total of eleven years. During these eleven years, he won the Taiwan Series MVP, the Best Nine Award, a Gold Glove, and more. However, after moving to Gao Ping Fala of the Taiwan Major League, Hong was regarded as a traitor by the Chinese Professional Baseball League. After the merge of the two leagues, he did not return to the Chinese Professional Baseball League until 2004 when he became pitching coach for the La New Bears.

Managing Era

In 2004, he became the pitching coach of the La New Bears and became the head coach in the same year after Takuji Ohta resigned from his job. Hong led La New to two consecutive championships in 2006-2007, both beating the Lions. In 2009, due to some La New players being involved in a match fixing incident and poor performance in leading the team, Hong was sent down to manage the minor league team of the Bears, swapping with Tsai Rongzong who was in that position at the time. In 2010, he returned as the manager for the Bears after Tsai resigned from his job. After the Bears rebranded into the Lamigo Monkeys in 2011, in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017, Hong successfully won the Taiwan Series. The five championships Hong won officially surpassed the record of four championships won by former Lions head coach Lu Wensheng. On July 11, 2017, he led the Lamigo Monkeys to defeat the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 4-2, becoming the manager with the most wins in the history of the CPBL, and the manager with the most wins coaching a single team. Hong then won the Taiwan Series in 2018 and 2019 to give Lamigo their three-peat, leading the team to establish the "Lamigo Dynasty". Hong switched teams in 2020 and managed the Fubon Guardians for 2 years. In 2023, Hong signed a 3-year contract with the TSG Hawks, becoming their first manager.