The refers to a series of

game fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

scandals in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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 formation ...

(NPB) league between 1969 and 1971. The fallout from these scandals resulted in several star players receiving long suspensions, salary cuts, or being banned from professional play entirely.McKenna, Brian. ''Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers'' (Scarecrow Press, 2007), p. 17. The scandals led many fans in Japan to abandon the sport, and also to the sale of such illustrious teams as the

Nishitetsu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

and

Toei Flyers The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a ...

(now the

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

and Hokkaidō Nippon Ham Fighters). The term "black mist" was a reference to a political scandal that had enveloped the administration of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Eisaku Satō was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1972. He is the third-longest serving Prime Minister, and ranks second in longest uninterrupted service as Prime Minister. Satō entered the National Diet in 1949 as a membe ...

just a few years earlier; "bribery was said to envelop politics like a black mist."

History

The Black Mist Scandal had multiple components, involving the ''

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

'' and members of both

(NPB) and professional

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

teams. Baseball players and executives were implicated in fixing competitions in both sports. The bulk of the revelations around the scandal came out between the fall of 1969 and the spring of 1970. Eventually, more than fifteen NPB players and coaches were implicated in game-fixing and

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

, while five auto racers were found to be involved in a race-fixing scheme. Members of nine NPB teams were implicated, with seven players coming from the

alone. Ten NPB current and former players — including star pitchers

Masaaki Ikenaga was a Japanese professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he played in Japan for the Nishitetsu Lions. Ikenaga was one of the top pitchers in Nippon Professional Baseball before a scandal derailed his career at age 23. Before being ...

, Kentarō Ogawa, and

Tsutomu Tanaka was a Japanese professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he played in Japan for the Nishitetsu Lions and the Chunichi Dragons. Tanaka was a top pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball shortly before scandals derailed his career. A 23 ...

— were banned from the game for life.

Game-fixing

On October 7, 1969, the Lions' front office discovered

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Masayuki Nagayasu taking bribes from a ''yakuza'' clan to throw games. The team announced that Nagayasu would be released after the end of the season, and the story was reported in Japanese newspapers the next day. Late in November, the executive committee presiding over the NPB at the time voted to ban Nagayasu from the league for life, the first time any player had been banned from Japanese baseball. On April 1, 1970, in an exclusive tape-recorded interview with the ''Shūkan Post'' newspaper, also broadcast on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

, Nagayasu revealed that other players on his former team were also involved in game-fixing. The NPB summoned seven players to testify about their involvement: Nagayasu, team ace Masaaki Ikenaga, pitchers Yoshinobu Yoda and Akio Masuda,

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

Kimiyasu Murakami, and

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

s Kazuhide Funada and Mitsuo Motoi. Yoda and Masuda admitted their involvement. Ikenaga claimed to be uninvolved, but had not returned the ¥1 million he had received from Chunichi Dragons pitcher and former teammate Tsutomu Tanaka as an invitation to cheat. One month later,

pitchers Toshiaki Moriyasu and Mitsugu Tanaka were revealed to be under suspicion of throwing baseball games. A subsequent report revealed that

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stad ...

front-office official Akira Yano had been coerced into throwing games as a player during the 1967 season. On May 25, 1970, the executive committee issued the following punishments to the accused Nishitetsu players: * Masayuki Ikenaga, Yoshinobu Yoda, Akio Masuda: Banned for life * Kimiyasu Murakami and Kazuhide Funada: Suspended until the end of the 1970 season * Mitsuo Motoi: Given a "severe warning" In June the committee banned the Buffaloes' Akira Yano from baseball for life. In July, Buffaloes outfielder Masahiro Doi was prosecuted for illegal gambling. He was later suspended by the NPB for a month. On July 30, 1970, the committee issued the following punishments for the Toei players: * Toshiaki Moriyasu: Banned from baseball for life * Mitsugu Tanaka: Received a warning On November 30,

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

pitcher

Yutaka Enatsu is a former Japanese pitcher regarded as one of the best Japanese strikeout pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record. Enatsu was a bit player in the Black Mist Scandal which embroiled Japanese baseb ...

received a stern warning from 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 consist ...

president due to "involvement with persons in baseball gambling." On January 11, 1971,

Nankai 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. ...

pitcher Kiyohiro Miura received a stern warning for receiving an invitation to throw games from teammate Kimihiro Satō and not reporting it. On January 29 of that year, Taiyō coach Takashi Suzuki and pitcher Shōji Sakai were barred from playing in the NPB for their involvement with the ''yakuza''. Finally, on February 15, 1971,

Lotte Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

pitcher Fumio Narita was suspended for a month for his involvement with

bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

Race-fixing

On April 22, 1970, an auto racer under investigation for rule violations in a race revealed that baseball players were involved in a scheme to fix the results of races. Three men were arrested under suspicion of participating in the scheme:

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

pitcher

Taiyō Whales The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...

pitcher Isao Takayama, and ''yakuza'' member Hirotaka Fujinawa. A few weeks later, Kentarō Ogawa, star pitcher for the Dragons, was arrested for taking part in the auto-race fixing. Later on in May,

infielder Takao Katsuragi was arrested in the auto-race scandal. In June, the NPB committee banned Ogawa from baseball for life; they suspended Katsuragi for three months. On September 8, 1970,

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yom ...

infielder Takeshi Kuwata (who had been the 1959 rookie of the year) was arrested for his role in the auto-racing scandal. He would later receive a three-month suspension from the NPB, but his involvement effectively barred him from signing with another team, and he retired at the end of the year.

Ikenaga's reinstatement

Ikenaga's banning was fiercely contested by both Nishitetsu's front office and Ikenaga's family. His case was not taken up by the NPB until March 2005, when commissioner Yasuchika Negoro and team owners agreed on a bylaw that allowed banned players who have reformed themselves to petition for a removal of the ban."Japan welcoming back players who fixed games", '' Yomiuri Shimbun'' (March 23, 2005). Archived o
MarlinsBaseball.com
Ikenaga requested a removal soon afterwards, and on April 25, 2005, he was allowed to return to baseball.

Timeline

1969

* October 7, 1969: Nishitetsu front office discovers

Masayuki Nagayasu Masayuki (written: , ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese animator and director *, Japanese actor *, Japanese baseball player and manager *, Japanese politician *, ...

taking bribes from an

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

family to throw games. The team announces that Nagayasu will be released after the end of the regular season, just days away. * October 8: The story is reported in Japanese newspapers. * November 28: Nagayasu banned from the league for life.

1970

* April 1, 1970: Nagayasu reveals that other players on his former team were also involved in game-fixing. Seven players testify on their involvement: Nagayasu,

Yoshinobu Yoda Yoshinobu is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yoshinori can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義信, "justice, believe" *義伸, "justice, extend" *義延, "justice, ext ...

, Akio Masuda, Kimiyasu Murakami, Kazuhide Funada, and

Mitsuo Motoi Mitsuo (written: , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Mitsuo Aoki (1914–2010), American theologian *, Japanese naval aviator * Mitsuo Fujikura, Japanese mixed martial art ...

. * April 22: Auto racer under investigation for rule violations reveals that baseball players are involved in a scheme to fix the results of races.

(

Isao Takayama is a masculine Japanese given name which was popular during the Shōwa period. Possible writings Isao can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *功, "achievement" *勲, "meritorious" *績, "exploits" *公, "public" *勇男 ...

(

), and

member Hirotaka Fujinawa are arrested. * May 6: Kentarō Ogawa (

) arrested for taking part in the auto-race fixing. * May 9: Toei Flyers pitchers Toshiaki Moriyasu and Mitsugu Tanaka are revealed to be under suspicion of throwing baseball games. * May 14: Report reveals that

front-office official Akira Yano was coerced into throwing games as a player in the 1967 season. * May 19:

Takao Katsuragi Takao may refer to: Geography * Mount Takao, a mountain in Tokyo, Japan * Mount Takao, a mountain in Kyoto, Japan, location of the Jingo-ji temple * Kaohsiung, a municipality in Taiwan * Takao Prefecture, an administrative division of Taiwan durin ...

(

) arrested in the auto-race scandal. * May 25: Commissioner committee issues the following punishments to Nishitetsu players: ** Masaaki Ikenaga, Yoshinobu Yoda, Akio Masuda: Banned for life ** Kimiyasu Murakami and Kazuhide Funada: Suspended until the end of the 1970 season ** Mitsuo Motoi: Severe warning * June 3: Kentarō Ogawa (Dragons) banned from baseball for life. * June 15: Akira Yano (Buffaloes front-office) banned from baseball for life. * June 18: Takao Katsuragi (Tigers) suspended by the commissioner committee for three months. * July 1: Masahiro Doi (

) prosecuted for illegal gambling. Later suspended by the league for a month. * July 30: Toshiaki Moriyasu (Toei) banned from baseball for life. Mitsugu Tanaka (Toei) receives a warning. * September 8: Takeshi Kuwata (

) arrested in the auto-racing scandal. Later receives three-month suspension. * November 30:

(

) receives a stern warning from the

president due to "involvement with persons in baseball gambling."

1971

* January 11, 1971: Kiyohiro Miura (

) receives stern warning for receiving an invitation to throw games from teammate Kimihiro Satō and not reporting it. * January 29: Taiyō coach Takashi Suzuki and pitcher Shōji Sakai barred from playing in the premiere league for their involvement with the Yakuza. * February 15: Fumio Narita (

) suspended for a month due to his involvement with bookmakers.

Players implicated

Warned

(P),

— accused of "involvement with persons in baseball gambling;" received a stern warning from the

president * Kiyohiro Miura (P),

(IF),

— given a "severe warning" * Mitsugu Tanaka (P),

Suspended

* Masahiro Doi (OF),

— prosecuted for illegal gambling; suspended for a month * Kazuhide Funada (IF),

— suspended until end of 1970 season *

(IF),

— arrested in the auto-race scandal; suspended for three months * Kimiyasu Murakami (C),

— suspended until end of 1970 season * Fumio Narita (P),

— involved with bookmakers; suspended for a month

Retired

* Takeshi Kuwata (IF),

— arrested in the auto-racing scandal; suspended for three months, subsequently blacklisted; eventually retired * Kimihiro Satō (P),

— accused of inviting teammate Kiyohiro Miura to throw games; had already left professional baseball after 1969 season *

(P),

— accused of auto race-fixing; had already left professional baseball after 1966 season

Banned for life

(P),

(reinstated in 2005) * Akio Masuda (P),

* Toshiaki Moriyasu (P),

(P),

— accused of taking bribes from an

family to throw games. Released after the end of the 1969 season; later banned for life * Kentarō Ogawa (P),

— arrested; accused of auto race-fixing * Shōji Sakai (P),

— barred from playing in NPB for involvement with the

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

* Takashi Suzuki (P/coach),

— barred from playing in NPB for involvement with the

(P),

— arrested; accused of auto race-fixing * Akira Yano (P),

— former player now an executive coerced into throwing games in the 1967 season *

(P),

— accused of game-fixing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Mist Scandal (Japanese Baseball) Baseball in Japan History of baseball in Japan 1969 in baseball 1970 in baseball 1971 in baseball Baseball controversies Sports scandals in Japan Sports betting scandals