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The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a
Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formatio ...
team playing in the
Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...
. The team is based in
Nishinomiya 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218948 households and a population density of 4 ...
,
Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, ...
, Japan, and is owned by
Hanshin Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka is a designated cit ...
Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings is a Japanese multinational ''keiretsu'' holding company which owns Hankyu Corporation, the Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Toho Co., Ltd., and affiliate companies. On October 1, 2006, Hankyu Holdings changed its name to the present co ...
Inc. The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961.


History

The Hanshin Tigers, second of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935, with the team being formed in 1936. The team was first called "the Ōsaka Tigers". In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to "Hanshin" and in 1947 changed the name back to "Ōsaka Tigers". The current team name was assumed in 1961. The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the
Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...
and the
Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...
, the Tigers have won the Central League pennant five times (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005) and the Japan Series once (1985). When the 2004
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
season opened in Japan, the Tigers played an exhibition game against the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
at the
Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of ...
on March 29. The Tigers won 11–7. In each of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, more than three million people attended games hosted by the Tigers. The Tigers were the only one of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams to achieve this. On January 31, 2007, the Tigers presented uniforms for the 2007 season. For the home uniforms, yellow, one of the colors of the team, was used again. The home field,
Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on August 1, 1924. It w ...
, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for play in the national championship tournaments in spring and summer. The summer tournament takes place in the middle of the Tigers' season, forcing the Tigers to go on a road trip and play their home games at Kyocera Dome Osaka. Fans call this "The Road of Death". Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Fumio Fujimura,
Masaru Kageura was a Japanese baseball player from Matsuyama, Ehime. An accomplished two-way player, Kaguera is one of two players (Eiji Sawamura being the other) who was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame after being killed in World War II. Kag ...
, Minoru Murayama, Yutaka Enatsu, Masayuki Kakefu,
Randy Bass Randy William Bass (born March 13, 1954) is an American politician and former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and served in the Oklahoma Senate. Bass made his MLB debut in 1977, a ...
Taira Fujita, and many others.


Koshien Stadium

The home field of the Tigers, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, is one of three major natural grass baseball stadiums in Japan. The others are the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima (
Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Mat ...
), and
Hotto Motto Field Kobe or officially Hotto Motto Field Kobe is a baseball park in Kobe Sports Park, Kobe, Japan. It is primarily used for baseball, and is one of two home fields for the Orix Buffaloes, the other being the Kyocera Dome Osaka. The stadium also occasio ...
(part-time home of the
Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...
). Of the three, only Koshien has an all-dirt infield (the other two have an American-style infield). There are numerous smaller grass field ballparks around the country; Japanese baseball teams frequently play games in small cities. Koshien Stadium is the oldest ballpark in Japan; built in 1924, the stadium was once visited by American baseball legend
Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
on a tour of Major League stars in 1934. There is a monument commemorating this visit within the stadium grounds, in an area called Mizuno Square. Koshien is revered as a "sacred" ballpark, and players traditionally bow before entering and before leaving its hallowed field. The stadium hosts the annual
Japanese High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', ta ...
in the summer and
Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ) ...
in the spring. The losing team in any high school baseball game played at the ballpark is allowed to scoop up handfuls of Koshien infield dirt, stuffing holy soil into their cleat bags as hordes of Japanese media snap photos at arm's length.


Curse of the Colonel

As with many other underachieving baseball teams, a
curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...
is believed to lurk over the Tigers. After their 1985 Japan Series win, fans celebrated by having people who looked like Tigers players jump into the Dōtonbori Canal. According to legend, because none of the fans resembled
first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the major ...
Randy Bass Randy William Bass (born March 13, 1954) is an American politician and former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and served in the Oklahoma Senate. Bass made his MLB debut in 1977, a ...
, fans grabbed a life-sized statue of
Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with ...
mascot Colonel Sanders and threw it into the river (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese). After many seasons without a pennant win, the Tigers were said to be doomed never to win the season again until the Colonel was rescued from the river. In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with the best record in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from Tigers fans. The top half of the statue (excluding both hands) was finally recovered on March 10, 2009, and the bottom half and right hand shortly after, in the canal by construction workers while constructing a new boardwalk area as part of a beautification project. The statue is still missing its left hand and glasses. The KFC outlet where this statue once stood has since closed; the statue is now at the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. It is not viewable by the public; only employees and special guests are permitted to gaze into the rescued Colonel's eyes. Since then, the Hanshin Tigers made the
2014 Japan Series The 2014 Japan Series (known as the '' SMBC Nippon Series 2014'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 65th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) championship series known colloquially as the Japan Series. The best-of-seven playoff was won by ...
, but lost to the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka ...
in 5 games.


Fandom

Tigers fans are known as perhaps the most fanatical and dedicated fans in all of Japanese professional baseball. They often outnumber the home team fans at Tigers "away" games. Tigers fans also once had a reputation for rough behavior and a willingness to brawl with other fans or with each other, although fights are rare these days. Whiting, Robert. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 118–120. A famous Tigers fan tradition (done by other teams of NPB as well) is the release, by the fans, of hundreds of air-filled balloons immediately following the seventh-inning stretch and the singing of the Tigers' fight song. This tradition is carried out at all home and away games, except at games against the
Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...
in the Tokyo Dome due to the Giants' notoriously authoritarian and heavy-handed rules for controlling behavior by visiting fans. The Tigers-Giants rivalry is considered the national Japanese rivalry, on par with the San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers and the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry in Major League Baseball or Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona in Spanish football.


Fight song

"", as known as "", lyrics by and composed by , is a popular song in the
Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolitan ...
area. It is the official fight song of the Tigers. In Japan, wind which blows down from a mountain is known to be cold and harsh, hence the song symbolizes the Tiger's brave challenge under hardship. The song can even be found on
karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...
boxes.


Season-by-season

From the guidebook.


Regular season records

NOTE: The 1944 Japanese Baseball League season was cut-short, the 1945 season was cancelled due to the ongoing war (World War II) with many players being enlisted to fight, and the 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball season was cut short due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.


List of managers


Players of note


Current roster


Former players

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (藤田 平) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (掛布 雅之) – IF * (亀山 努, 亀山 つとむ) – OF * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Retired numbers

* * *


MLB Players

* Kenji Johjima (2006-2009) * Ryan Vogelsong (2000–2006, 2011–2017) * Tsuyoshi Shinjo (2001–2003) *
Keiichi Yabu (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese baseball pitching coach for the Hanshin Tigers and a former baseball pitcher. He played eleven seasons in Japan, and parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics in 2005 and the ...
(2005, 2008) * Cecil Fielder (1989) * Glenn Davis (1984–1993) * Chris Oxspring (2005) * Kei Igawa (2007–2010) * Marvell Wynne (1983–1990) * Craig Worthington (1988–1992, 1995–1996) * Jeff Williams (1999–2002) *
Marc Valdes Marc Christopher Valdes (born December 20, 1971) is a former American professional baseball pitcher and current pitching coach for the St. Lucie Mets. He played for the Florida Marlins, Montreal Expos, Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves of Major ...
(1995–1998, 2000–2001) * Tony Tarasco (1993–1999, 2002) * Jerrod Riggan (2000–2003) *
Alonzo Powell Alonzo Sidney Powell (born December 12, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He batted and threw right-handed. Powell was the first foreign player in the NPB to capture 3 consecutive batting titles. Career Playing career Minor ...
(1987, 1991) * Matt Murton (2005–2009) *
Leon McFadden Leon McFadden (born April 26, 1944) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball shortstop and outfielder who played from to for the Houston Astros. He also played one season in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers, in . Career Prior to playing pro ...
(1972) * Seung-hwan Oh (2016–2019) * Kyuji Fujikawa (2013-15) *
Pierce Johnson Pierce William Johnson (born May 10, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres and ...
(2020-present) * Robert Suarez (2022-present)


Media relating to the Tigers


Mascots

is a mascot character of the Tigers. With his girlfriend Lucky, he entertains spectators at team games. His uniform number is 1985, because his first appearance was in 1985. His name is a combination of two separate Japanese words, , meaning tiger and meaning lucky. His name therefore means "lucky tiger" in Japanese. To Lucky's first appearance was on the screen at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in 1985. He appeared as a live-action character in 1987. His design was updated in 1992. Aside from To-Lucky, the other mascots of the Tigers are Lucky ( ラッキー  ''Rakkii''), his girlfriend, and the most recent addition, Keeta (キー太), Lucky's little brother. Keeta's uniform number is 2011, because he was introduced to the Tigers in 2011.


Newspapers

:* Daily Sports (デイリースポーツ, published by the
Kobe Shimbun is a Japanese-language daily newspaper based in Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city afte ...
, except Hiroshima region) :*
Nikkan Sports is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946. It has a circulation of 1,661,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of the ''Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is als ...
(日刊スポーツ, affiliated company of the
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition an ...
, Kansai region) :*
Sankei Sports is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper published by Sankei Shimbun. In 2014, it had a circulation of 1,270,000. The newspaper is known by its nickname . Relating sports teams * Kanto area - Tokyo Yakult Swallows (Nippon Professional Ba ...
(サンケイスポーツ, published by the
Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''As ...
Osaka Head Office) :*
Sports Nippon , also known as , is the first Japanese daily sports newspaper, having been founded in 1948. In a 1997 report it was called one of the "Big Three" sports papers in Japan, out of a field of 17 sports dailies. It is an affiliate newspaper of th ...
(スポーツニッポン, affiliated company of the
Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (prev ...
, Kansai region)


Stations

(Broadcasting): :* Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. (MBS, 毎日放送, Radio and TV) :*
Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...
(ABC, 朝日放送, Radio and TV) :*
Kansai Telecasting Corporation JODX-DTV, virtual channel 8 (UHF digital channel 17), branded as or , is the Kansai region key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System (FNS), operated by the . Kansai TV is a company affiliated in Hankyu Hanshin Holdi ...
(関西テレビ, TV) :*
Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation JOIX-DTV (channel 10), branded as , is the Kansai region flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned by the subsidiary of the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomer ...
(読売テレビ, TV) :* Television Osaka, Inc. (テレビ大阪, TV) :* SUN-TV (サンテレビ, TV)


See also

*
Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...
* Western League * Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group
Hanshin Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka is a designated cit ...
Co., Ltd. *
Tampere Tigers Tampere Tigers is a baseball and softball club from Tampere, Finland. The club competes in the two Finnish Baseball Leagues, Suomi Sarja and SM Sarja. Tampere Tigers were founded in 2004 by Arni Hukari and Lassi Autio. The Tigers have also a femal ...


References


External links


Hanshin Tigers official website


* ttps://www.thehanshintigers.com/ Appetite for Hanshin - Hanshin Tigers English news website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tigers, Hanshin Baseball teams established in 1935 Nippon Professional Baseball teams 1935 establishments in Japan Hankyu Hanshin Holdings