Mr. Chien-Ming Wang was born in Tainan, Taiwan. He is a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees, Major League Baseball’s most famous and fabled team. Mr. Wang has come to be known as the Yankees ace pitcher. In 2006, in only his second season, he won the most games of any pitcher in baseball. In 2007, he was second in wins in the American league.
Mr. Wang has become a cultural bridge between the United States and Taiwan. Every game he pitches is televised throughout Taiwan, helping to popularize the American game, and promoting better understanding between the two peoples. Because of his ability, popularity and influence, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People for 2007.
Mr. Wang rose through the Yankees’ minor league system, including the Staten Island Yankees, who retired his number 41 in 2006. Mr. Wang posted a 1.75 ERA in Staten Island, the second-lowest in franchise history. In 2005, Mr. Wang was called up from the Yankees’ AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Mr. Wang pitched 18 games, though an injury kept him sidelined for a part of the season. He went 8-5 with an earned run average of 4.02.
Mr. Wang is the third major leaguer from Taiwan, following Dodgers outfielder Chin-Feng Chen and Royals Pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao.
In 2006, Mr. Wang’s second season, he established himself as the Yankees’ ace. Mr. Wang won 19 games (tied for the most in the majors along with Johan Santana), posed a 3.63 ERA and even picked up his first save on June 3rd against the Baltimore Orioles. Mr. Wang started the first game of the Division Series against the Detroit Tigers. Mr. Wang earned the win as the Yankees beat Detroit 8-4.
Overall in 2006, Mr. Wang limited batters to a .211 batting average while games were tied, and a .205 batting average in games that were late and close. Mr. Wang also led the league in ground ball percentage (62.8%) and allowed 2.84 groundouts for every fly ball out. At the end of the season, Mr. Wang finished second to Santana in voting for the Cy Young award. In MLB.com’s This Year in Baseball Awards, he was chosen as the top starter in the 2006 season with more than 47% of the fans votes.
In 2007, Mr. Wang was 2nd in the American League in wins (19), 3rd for the second straight year in Won-Lost percentage (.731) 9th in wild pitches (9), and 10th in hit batsmen (8). He had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. He also had the lowest HR/9 innings pitched ratio in the AL (0.41), was 3rd in GB% (58.5%) and GB/FB (2.51), and had the 5th-lowest strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (4.70).
Mr. Wang currently resides in Fort Lee, New Jersey with his wife, Chia-Ling Wu.
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