Ex-Major League player Bailey suspended in match-fixing scandal (Roundup)

Oct 9, 2008, 11:51 GMT

Taipei - Former US Major League baseball player Cory Bailey and two Taiwan players were suspended from games Thursday due to their alleged involvement in match fixing, Taiwan baseball authorities said Thursday.

'If players are involved in match fixing, we will terminate contracts with them and seek damage,' Lee Wen-pin, secretary-general of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (PBL), told reporters.

But Bailey denied throwing match, and was angry that press report said that he and the two Taiwan players have admitted match-fixing.

'I denied it. I denied everything to the attorney. I don't know where they got that (the news that he had confessed),' he told reporters.

Bailey said he has not - and would not - throw a match because honour is very important to him and his family.

Bailey, 37, a US citizen, has played in US Major and Minor leagues since 2001 and played for Japan's Yomiuri Giants in 2003.

He played for Taiwan's La New team 2004-2005 before returning to play for Chicago Cubs.

He returned to Taiwan in April 2008 to play for T-Rex team, and since June 2, has been the team's hitter and coach since September.

T-Rex scandal erupted Wednesday when prosecutors detained six T-Rex members - including manager, coach and players - and four bookies for allegedly fixing 10 matches in since March.

The Panchiao Prosecutors' Office said R-Rex executive director Shih Chien-hsin has confessed to using a gangster ring to run the team by fixing matches.

Bailey and two Taiwan players were released on 10,000 Taiwan dollar (320 US dollars) bond each Thursday, and are suspended indefinitely by the team, which faces a survival crisis.

The Taiwan Sports Affairs Council urged the Panchiao Prosecutors' Office to thoroughly probe the match-fixing scandal 'to create a clean environment for sports.'

Taiwan has six professional baseball teams but they all have financial problems due to low attendance at baseball matches.

Baseball is popular in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the US and many parts of Latin America. Australia and Canada both have players in the Major League Baseball.