Niigata: Veteran Taiwanese baseball star Yang Dai-Kang announced Saturday that concerns about his physical health were the key factor behind his decision to retire. Speaking at a news conference in Niigata city hosted by his Japanese minor league club, the Oisix Niigata Albirex Baseball Club, Yang explained that professional baseball brought daily frustrations, emphasizing that players needed to first overcome their own issues before competing against others.
According to Focus Taiwan, the 39-year-old Yang highlighted that, although he felt mentally capable of continuing to compete, the physical decline accompanying age was an unavoidable reality. This decline was the primary reason for his retirement decision. Yang expressed gratitude toward the teams he had played for throughout his career.
Yang's career began after graduating from Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Japan when he was selected by the Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the 2005 high school player draft. He exercised his free-agent rights after the 2016 season and joined the Yomiuri Giants in 2017, where he played for five years. Yang briefly played in an independent league in the United States in 2022 before returning to Japan in 2024 to join Oisix Niigata Albirex.
Earlier this week, Yang announced his retirement after the current season, marking the end of his 21-year professional baseball career. Over his career in Japan's top professional league, Yang played 1,322 games, recording 1,164 hits, including 105 home runs, in 4,307 at-bats. His achievements include stealing 141 bases, driving in 482 runs, and compiling a career batting average of .270. He led the Pacific League in stolen bases in 2013 and won four NPB Gold Glove Awards as an outfielder.
At the retirement news conference, former teammate Atsunori Inaba, now the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters' minor league team, made a surprise appearance, moving Yang to tears. Inaba reminisced about their shared experiences, noting that their years of friendly competition had become valuable life experiences. He wished Yang well in his retirement, expressing that the experience he accumulated could benefit others.