This will mark the second time Ma has agreed to help kick off the CPBL season, making him the first president of Taiwan to show up at the local pro league opener for two years in a row.

The baseball-loving First Lady Chow Mei-ching will not attend the 21st year season opener between the Brother Elephants and Uni-President Lions today, however, as she is still recovering from a sprained wrist. Chow attended nearly 30 games of the CPBL last season.

Ma's attendance is seen as a way to revive the sluggish local pro baseball league and the sport that is largely regarded as Taiwan's national sport.

Taiwan's pro baseball world has been in turmoil since prosecutors uncovered a scheme last October in which prominent players were paid to lose games, allowing a gang of gamblers to rake in enormous profits.

On Feb. 10 prosecutors indicted 24 people including Elephants star outfielder Chen Chih-yuan and former La New Bears pitcher Chang Chih-chia. Each could face up to two years in prison if found guilty.

To help revive professional baseball, Ma held a first-ever national conference on baseball last December. Participants discussed ways to revive and upgrade the sport that has been plagued by game-fixing scandals.

While today's game in Tienmu is expected to fill the stadium, most CPBL teams are deeply worried about the box office during the upcoming season. The Elephants, one of the worst-hit teams in the league, lost two dozen players in the latest baseball scandal and fear a drop of up to 30% in revenue this coming season.

Urging reform efforts

Meanwhile, a group of fans of professional baseball clubs which joined the national conference last year issued a statement yesterday urging the league, ball clubs and players' union of the CPBL to continue reform efforts in response to the calls of baseball-loving people in Taiwan, while asking the central government to carry out its pledge to help revive the national sport.

The league announced last year following the outbreak of the scandal that it will adopt a free agency system and minimum salaries for the 2010 season, a historic reform aimed at reviving the league. The league also agreed to set the minimum player salaries at NT$70,000 (US$2,167) per month for league players. For the players in second units, those receiving a salary of less than NT$70,000 would be eligible for pension payments.