Despite a nice start, this club had been performing poorly throughout its short history, mainly due to the controversial leading styles of Jungo Corporation's then chairman Chen I-ping (陳一平). After a chain of rows over TV broadcast rights and the distribution of TV broadcast royalties, in November 1995 the other 5 teams of CPBL expelled Chen I-ping and Jungo Corporation's all legal rights inside CPBL. The Sinon Corporation took over this team and renamed it as Sinon Bears, which was later renamed again as Sinon Bulls in June 1996. Later in 1999 Chen I-ping and Jungo Corporation sought to sponsor Taiwan Major League (TML)'s Taichung Agan but TML did not respond.
The Sinon Bulls (Chinese: 興農牛) were founded in 1996 and are owned by the Taichung-based Sinon Corporation, which is known for its agricultural product lines, insurance, and supermarket chains through Central Taiwan. After a poor first season, the Bulls managed a winning record for the first time in second half of the 1997 season, and achieved the feat for a full season for the first time in 1998. In this season, the Bulls made it to the championship series for the first time, losing to the Wei Chuan Dragons four games to three. Sinon would advance to the finals in 2000 and 2003 as well, losing both times.
It was in 2004 that the Bulls finally made their breakthrough with a come-from-behind seven game series win. They made it back-to-back Taiwan Series wins with a sweep of the Macoto Cobras the following year, their third consecutive trip to the championship series. The Bulls made the playoffs four years in a row (2003–2006), a CPBL record they shared with the Wei Chuan Dragons, who also appeared in four consecutive playoff rounds from 1996–1999.
The Bulls also participated in the first annual Konami Cup Asia Series in Japan following its Taiwan Series victory in 2005. While defeating a team of all-stars from the Chinese league, they lost to the champions of Japan and South Korea en route to a 1–2 showing.
At the end of the 2012 season, Sinon Corporation announced its intention to sell the team. By late December, an agreement was reached between Sinon Corporation and E-United Group, and the team was renamed EDA Rhinos after E-DA World, a large shopping, entertainment and hotel complex in Kaohsiung operated by E-United Group.
In June 2016 it was announced that the E-United Group are willing to sell the team.[2] The team won the second stage of the 2016 CPBL season and qualified to the Taiwan Series, where they defeated Chinatrust Brothers 4–2 to win their first championship since 2005.[2]
2.JPG)
Mike Loree
